


Gem Kingdom

by J_A_Radner



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/F, slight AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-06
Updated: 2018-04-14
Packaged: 2019-04-19 03:55:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 28,993
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14228706
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/J_A_Radner/pseuds/J_A_Radner
Summary: *set no later than season two* Regina possesses an orb that has the capabilities of transporting realms. But whether it leads to the Enchanted Forest is a mystery until Emma and Regina both witness Henry getting absorbed by the orb and disappearing right before their eyes. Regina and Emma attempt to go after him and end up getting stuck in a new realm that Regina may have a history with. (see inside for notes)





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This story was originally written in an old fan fiction account of mine years ago. I never finished it until now so I'm reposting it. It wont take place after season two because thats when the original idea was made up. I hope you guys enjoy it and let me know what you think :) p.s.: its not beta'd so any and all mistakes are mine.
> 
> ~J

Regina huffed as she was on her way home. She had to go to another one of those insufferable town meeting. Whats worse is that she was now renamed as the "Evil Queen" again. She doesn't even know why she bothers to go there anyways. Its not like they listen to what she has to say anyways. All they listen to is that wretched Snow and her "Prince Charming". And if she does have a complaint, they ignore her for they feel as though she deserves it. Getting angrier by the second she quickened her pace as she searched her purse for her keys. She gets to her house and realizes that her keys aren't in her bag but still keeps looking for she knows she couldn't have left them anywhere else. Just as she was about to break the door with her magic, completely forgetting about the promise she made Henry, she heard a few honks behind her. She turned around to see a hideous yellow death trap and coming out of it, was everyones beloved Sheriff/Savior.

"Hello Regina" Emma said politely

"What do you want Miss Swan." Regina snapped back. It was more towards a statement than a question.

Emma didn't even flinch at the sudden snap, in fact, she had this playful smirk on her face that Regina just wanted to rip off.

"Why nothing at all Madam Mayor, just thought I'd give these to you." Emma said as she held out Regina's house keys next to her mayor glared at her while Emma still had that smirk on her face. Nothing was said by the brunette for a few moments as she continued to glare at the blonde in hopes of making her uncomfortable.

"My my, such eyes towards someone who is trying to help you? Should I just leave with these keys in my possession?" Emma asked.

"Cut it Miss Swan. Please just give me my keys. Im too tired to deal with you right now."

"Oh I know that. You seemed pretty dead at that meeting. I just have one question for you. Answer it, and i'll give you back the keys. Deal?"

"Oh so you're the one whose going to start making deals with people?"

"Yes or no Regina". Regina sighed knowing that whatever she tries to say back will only go deaf in the blondes ears.

"Very well Miss Swan. Deal" Regina said with a smirk of her own.

"Excellent. So you know how there is always that one question at everybody asks at every town meeting?" Emma asked

"Yes now give me back my keys." Regina quipped back.

"That was not my question Madame Mayor." Emma said

"Well you did only say one question. And so you asked." Regina said with a small smile on her face.

"Very funny. But no, that was not my question. I want to know why you lied." Emma turned serious. Taken aback by the sudden change in tone, Regina slightly flinched.

"What do you mean I lied?" Regina asked

"When Leroy asked if there was any lead onto how to go back to their home, you simply shrugged and said no. You should know by now that I can spot a lie from a mile away." Emma said with a tone that would scare a normal person. Regina on the other hand, was intimidated by the sudden change in the Sheriffs mood.

"Sorry to burst your bubble dear, but I believe your lying detecting skills are dulled. I did not lie."

"Cut it out Regina. Im not playing anymore. These people want to go home and you're not letting them."

Regina clenched her jaw getting more and more irritated by the second. All she wants is to go home, take a nice hot bath and then go to sleep. She is too tired to deal with this any longer.

"Fine. I lied. Surprised that the Evil Queen lied? If you are then I don't even know what to tell you." Regina snapped back.

Emma just took a moment to look at the brunette before her. She saw that Regina was tired but she needed to know why she lied and she knew that it was because she wanted to keep everybody in Storybrooke to continue their suffering. She knew that there was something else going on in the Mayors head but she just couldn't figure out what that was.

"Don't call yourself that." Emma said seriously.

"Excuse me?" Regina said growing more irritated but was wondering what the blonde meant by that.

"Don't call yourself the Evil Queen. Because you're not anymore. You've changed for the better and don't think no one has noticed. Especially Henry, he sees you trying to better yourself and hes very happy for that." Emma said with a small smile as she handed Regina her keys back to her.

"I can see you're tired and pardon my actions but I just needed to know why you lied. If you'd like we will talk about it tomorrow when I drop Henry off at your house." Emma said as she turned to leave. Regina kept looking at the leaving figure.

"Miss Swan" Regina called out.

"Yea?" Emma asked as she turned around.

"Thank you, for my keys." Regina said with a small smile

"No problem. Good night Regina" Emma said returning the smile

"Good night Miss Swan" Regina said as she turned to her door and unlocked it. It was a long night and all she wanted to do now was relax. And she knew she had to get a lot of rest because she knows exactly how stubborn the blonde is and that she will remind Regina about tonights conversation. With that in mind, Regina got he bath ready and stepped in, enjoying the soak.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The day went by fast when Regina looked at the clock. 3:15pm. _Henry should be here any minute now_ Regina thought. Just as thought passed her mind, there was a knock on the door. Regina got off the couch and put her cup of cider down on the coffee table and made her way towards the door. She opened it to find a smiling Henry and Emma.

"Hi Mom" Henry said as he gave Regina a hug.

"Hey sweetie, how was your day" Regina said with a smile on her face

"It was good, can I got get something to drink? We had gym just now and I lost my bottle."

"Go right ahead honey you know you don't have to ask." With that being said, Henry left toward the kitchen leaving the two women alone. Regina and Emma stood awkwardly staring for each other for a few moments before Emma broke the silence.

"Can we resume our conversation from last night? You seem well rested now." Emma said with a polite tone.

Regina sighed and allowed Emma in. "Not too long Miss Swan, I'd like to spend as much time as I can with Henry."

"Of course. Ill just get right to the point. Why'd you lie?" Emma asked as if Regina didn't know the question.

Silence followed. Regina had no idea what to say to her.

"I like how you said 'not too long' but yet you seem to be taking your sweet time Madam Mayor." Emma said feeling uncomfortable in the silence. "Is there a way to get back to the Enchanted Forest?"

"I think you already know the answer to that since you came to my house accusing me of lying when I said that there wasn't." Regina said.

"Good point. Now tell me why you lied."Regina let out a breath of air.

"I was worried". Regina hesitated when saying this. She didn't want anybody to know that she was worried about anything when it came to these people.

"About?" Emma said trying to push further the conversation.

"I have a way to get to another realm, but I don't know if it would get us to the Enchanted Forest. It could lead us to any realm and i'm not going to be risking it. I lied because I knew that if I said that there is a way to get out of here then people will keep pestering me for it." Regina explained.

"Uh huh.." Emma said as she is rethinking about what Regina said. Regina was telling the truth, there was no doubt about that but shes still curious."Well what makes you think that it wont take us to the Enchanted Forest?"

"Well first of all because there is more than one realm besides the Enchanted Forest, and because it needs a specific amount of magic to activate it especially for the number of people in this town. There is currently not enough magic in Storybrooke for all of us to travel in between realms. And besides, in order to get to another realm via this method, you would need to know someone that is already in that realm and constantly think about them." Regina explained.

"Uh huh.." Emma said once again.

"Do I need to dumb it down for you, Miss Swan?" Regina said growing irritated.

"Oh no, your Majesty, I would never ask you to do such a troublesome task for someone such as myself! I do have some decency!" Emma bit back. "Where is Henry, by the way. I need to tell him that i'm going to pick him up at 9:00. Henry!"

Silence followed. Henry did not respond. With that, both Regina and Emma rushed over to the kitchen and found their son no where in the room.

"Hey whats this?!" Henry yelled from all the way upstairs. Regina and Emma looked at each other wondering how he got past them without any of them noticing him. Both made their way up to Regina's room. Once Regina laid her eyes on Henry, her eyes widened.

"Henry put that down!" Regina yelled. It was too late. Blue smoke surrounded the boy and the next thing anyone knew was that the boy disappeared.

"What the hell was that?!" Emma yelled out with a mixture of shock, fear and anger on her face. Regina didn't say anything. She walked to where Henry was. Hesitantly she bent down to pick up the blue orb that her son dropped. It was still glowing. She just stared at it and burst out crying as she fell to the floor.

"Regina?" Emma asked slowly. She had no idea what to feel anymore. Her emotions were all over the place, especially seeing such a stoic person suddenly breaking down. She slowly made her way over to the crying brunette. "Regina, what happened?" she tried again.

"H-Henry.." Regina tried to speak but was cut off by her sobs. "He's gone.." she finally got out. She couldn't open her eyes. Shes too afraid to open them and see that he is actually gone. She did not want to lose Henry, again, and more importantly, she didn't want to see Emma's face. She knew that there was rage and hatred in the blondes eyes but she did not want to look up.

"Wh-what do you mean 'gone'?" Regina didn't answer. She just holding the blue orb close to her chest. She didn't want to know herself by what she meant but she hated the fact that she knew anyways.

"Regina, answer me" Emma choked out but with a serious tone. Regina looked up at Emma. Green eyes were piercing the blood shot brown eyes with such anger but yet with just as much concern and worry. She felt so small but she knew that she had to give an explanation.

"This orb, was what can transport us to other realms." Regina said. The blondes eyes widened.

"Are you saying.. That Henry is in another realm?". Regina just nodded slowly. Now it was Emma's turn to fall on her knees. She couldn't believe what she just heard. "I-is there a way to get him back? Can we go to him?" she said trying her best to not let any tears fall but a few already escaped. She had just got back her son.

"Its extremely risky but yes, we might be able to go to where he is."

"Then lets go" Emma said as she stood up. Her crying has stopped and her face turned serious again. She stretched her hand out to Regina to help pick her up. "Lets go save our son". Regina complied with Emma's decision and got up.

"How exactly does this work again?" Emma asked.

"Well you are originally supposed to have the thought of the place you would want to go to in mind but we have no idea where Henry is. I think that the best we could do is just think about Henry and pray it would lead us to him" Regina explained.

"OK." Emma said. Getting herself ready. "Lets do this"

"Shouldn't you tell your parents that you're leaving to another realm with the Evil Queen in order to find our son?" Regina said with a smirk.

"Regina, Im 28 years old. Im pretty damn sure I can make my own decisions by now without having to tell my mommy and daddy about them" Emma replied.

"Very well but its going to end up hurting you in the end"

"Just get it over with Regina." With that being said, both women closed their eyes and constantly thought of Henry, god knows where he could be, but that didn't stop them from trying. After a few moments, blue smoke engulfed both of them and they disappeared.

  


 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> finished this chapter way sooner than expected lol and didn't want it just sitting in my computer. Hope you guys enjoy this :)

Henry awoke with a groan as he sat up from the ground. _W_ _ _here am I?__ he thought. He looked around to see that he was in a forest.

"Mom? Emma?" Henry yelled out. Silence followed as he decided to walk around and explore the forest as he continued to call out. "MOM! EMMA!". He stopped dead in his tracks when he heard a growl behind him. He looked back to only fall back on the ground. __A bear? no, that is not a bear.__ he thought. He slowly studied beast in front of him, It was as bigger than a normal bear, way bigger, it had orangish brown fur and its eyes were red.

"My my, what do we have here?" it asked. Henry just looked at the beast with wide eyes, the last thing he expected was for it to talk.

"A silent one eh? You smell different.” the beast said slowly creeping closer to Henry. “I take it you're an outsider, not of this world so to speak.” Henry just nodded.

"Well, I wonder how outsiders taste.." That was the last thing he said before it started to walk faster towards the frozen boy.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

There was not a cloud in sight as the sun shone on the lake engulfing it with sparkles. The lake surrounded by a field with emerald grass and countless trees. Everything was peaceful, until blue smoke filled the air and two women appear in the middle of the field only a few feet away from the lake.

Both Emma and Regina landed with a slight scream and a groan as they made contact with the ground. Regina laid on the ground while Emma was on top of her, arms at the sides of brunettes head and one of her legs in between the other woman's legs. Slowly the blonde lifted herself so that her arms were holding her up. Green met brown and held each other. Both women slightly blushed but did not notice it. The silence however, was broken by Regina after she realized what was going on.

"Miss Swan, Please get off of me." Regina said still not taking her eyes off of Emma's. It took just a little longer for Emma to realize herself, what was going on. Quickly she got off of the mayor.

"Oh god i'm so sorry." Emma quickly said looking down slightly flustered.

"Its fine, don't forget what we are doing here in the first place" Regina replied as she stood up and shook off all of the dirt that was on her clothes.

"Where are we anyways?" Emma asked looking around. She couldnt be sure if this was part of the Enchanted Forest or not for she hasn't stayed too long there to fully know its territory. "Is this part of the Enchanted Forest?". Regina took a moment to look around and saw the lake. __Oh no.__

"No, its not."

"You sure?"

"Yes Miss Swan, I think I would remember the land I once ruled. This lake was definitely not a part of it." Regina quipped back.

"The lake? Thats it? Thats how you're able to tell that its not the Enchanted Forest?"

Regina just let out an angry sigh and pinched the bridge of her nose to help stop her from tearing this woman apart. "Look at the lake Miss Swan, its not a normal lake, there is magic in this land but it doesn't mean that its the Enchanted Forest. Many realms have magic in them" Regina

"OK OK! God. How do we even know if Henry is here?" Emma asked. Regina just stood silent and looked down.

"I don't know. I guess we just have to hope for the best that he is."

Emma put her hands up on her head to shield her eyes so she could look up. "Come on, we should get moving the sun is high up so it will give us time to search". Regina simply nodded and the two women began walking.

Neither one of them spoke as they made their way through a forest trying to find what ever form of civilization they can. The woods here are more dangerous than the ones in the Enchanted Forest, these woods have more loose roots here and there making it more likely to trip over them. Also the grass was much taller making it hard to see where you are stepping. Emma and Regina barely made an effort to see where exactly they are going for if they look around all they see are trees. Countless tress as far as the eye can see. No path, no route, nothing. Just trees everywhere some even scrunching up against others. Emma is having little to no problem walking through the forest due to her attire. The blonde is wearing her usual blue skinny jeans (which Regina believes to be more than just 'skinny', but that her legs just painted blue), her brown boots, a white button up blouse and that red leather jacket that Regina just loathes oh so much. Regina on the other hand, is having a hard time making her way through said forest and is falling behind. Emma notices this and decides to throw a look over her shoulder and towards the brunette.

"You ok there Regina?" Emma asks as she continued to walk.

Regina huffed. "I'm perfectly fine Miss Swan". Not believing a single word the mayor said, Emma stopped dead in her tracks and turned around to face the queen, placing her hands on her hips and putting on a playful smirk.

"Yes, lie to the person that can spot a lie from anyone a mile away. Brilliant plan your Majesty"

"Keep walking Miss Swan, as you said before, we need this time to search for Henry"

"If you would like to take a break, then I would be ok with it"

"Now why would I need a break?"

"Well," Emma began as she took a good look at the woman before her. Starting with her shoes, she sees Regina wearing her Prada stilettos, which is obviously not the best choice of footwear for trailing through a forest (then again this was all so sudden), moving up she sees Regina wearing a tight black pencil skirt that stops just before the knees visibly hugging her curves in such a manner, that it makes Emma;s skinny jeans come second, and finally, a solid blue button up shirt with small sequences on the collars. "You're not in the best attire for this kind of 'trip', so to speak."

"My goodness Miss Swan, your deduction skills are as impressive as ever. How do you do it?" Regina said with full blown sarcasm and annoyance in her voice.

"Im just gifted like that. Cant you just poof yourself new clothes or something?"

"No, no I cant just 'poof' myself new clothes. Theres something wrong with my magic here and before you ask, no I don't know what it is." Regina said. The blonde nodded knowing that she can't really question Regina's magic for she has no idea how magic works. So she just sat down and leaned her back against a tree.

"What are you doing Miss Swan?" Regina asked getting more annoyed with the blonde.

"Sit, Regina. Its obvious you're in pain because of your monstrous heels. Lets rest for a while and then we will continue our search." Emma calmly explained.

"We don't have time Miss Swan!" Regina was done. She was yelling at the top of her lungs because she is just completely infuriated with the other woman. "Are you saying that we are going to search for Henry when it gets dark?! News Flash dear, Its pitch black in the forest at night! God knows what kind of creatures live here!". As if to prove her point they hear a growl. Regina whipped her head to find the source of the noise. Emma was in shock in first but face palmed herself.

"You see what you do, Regina?" Emma said as she got up. The growling came closer to them. Regina and Emma subconsciously moved closer together and weren't aware of this movement until their arms touched each other.

"Well well well". A deep voice said. Emma and Regina quickly turned around to see some sort of beast glaring at them with hungry eyes. "It seems I got lucky. I just found two gorgeous women standing before me in fear. This should be a good meal." The beast smiled and showed off his sharp teeth.

Emma reached for her gun but couldn't find it. She cursed herself for leaving it back home. She looked over to Regina and she just saw fear all over the woman's face. Emma never believed that she will ever see Regina in such a state. Her eyes screamed for help. She looked back at the beast. Orangish brown fur covering its body. Its eyes were red. And its paws, had sharp claws as if they are ready to tear up flesh.

"Now should I have some fun with you two? I mean, you trespassed onto my territory, so I believe you should pay for that. I do believe some torture is in order." It said with a sly grin

"OR," A voice called out from behind the two women. "I could just cut you up and go on with my day" The three of them all flinched at the sound of another voice. Slowly, both women turned around to see a teenage looking girl standing behind them. As soon as they saw the girl she disappeared and ended up right before the woman having her back face them and her dangerous glare on the beast in front of them.

"Tch, I really did not want to run into you any time soon." The beast snarled.

"Who would?" The girl countered as she prepared to attack. Before she could, the beast quickly spoke up.

"How about this! You spare my life, and I will spare the lives of those beautiful women. Its a win-win!" The beast said trying to sound as confident as possible. With out a second thought, the girl drew out her sword and the next thing any one knew, the beast fell with a giant gash on his chest and the girl was about 10 feet behind said beast.

"No" she said to answer the beast.

She turned around to face the two women and began to observe them. "You two alright?" she asked. Regina was the first one to come back to reality. Seconds later, so did Emma. Emma and Regina both looked at the girl in front of them and saw her with her sword still out, quickly they began to stumble backwards.

"Oh calm down, I just saved your asses. Why would I hurt you?" She asked. The two women flinched at the sudden tone of voice.

"Th-Thanks" Emma said. She took some time to observe the girl. She was wearing tight black leather pants, a ruby red button up long sleeve blouse and a tight black leather vest. She had black lace up boots and her hair was up to her mid back. She looked very young as well. Too young to be doing this sort of job. "What was that thing?"

"That," She said as she pointed to the carcass in front of her. "Is a humanloyd. Animals that pick up skills from watching us humans. They can be peaceful if they witness peaceful human actions, however due to our love for violence and bloodshed, they witnessed humans at their lowest, during war between two kingdoms. Shouldn't you two know that by now?" The girl looked at them with questioning eyes. "And shouldn't you know not to come to these areas?"

"I- uh" Emma stuttered not knowing what to say

"Yes, we are truly sorry. We were taking a walk but lost control of time and our sense of direction. I guess we just accidentally wandered into their territory." Regina interrupted. She has seemed to come back to her senses. "We will be on our way. Thank you for saving us". And with that she tugged on Emma's arm and led her away from the girl. The girl just raised her eyebrow and crossed her arms across her chest.

"You two aren't from this land" The girl said. The two women stopped dead in their tracks. Carefully they turned around.

"Of course we are, what makes you say that?" Regina said, trying to sound as regal as possible.

"Many reasons make me say that. But one is that, you are holding that blue orb that clearly belongs to Sapphire Kingdom, but yet you two are heading in the completely opposite direction of said kingdom. Those who have that orb or find that orb, must return it to the royal family at once" The girl explained with a smirk on her face. The two women stood dumbstruck on what they just heard. They have no idea how to process it or what to say.

"Fine. We are not from here" Emma said

"Miss Swan!"

"No point in lying anymore! She already knows!" Emma stated.

"I honestly don't care if you two are from a different land. In fact, I couldn't care less just as long as you don't pose a threat to me" The girl said in a non nonchalant tone. She drew closer to the girls and put away her sword in its sheathe.

"What kind of sword is that?" Regina asked as she looked at the long pitch black blade. There was a rectangular guard and the hilt was also black but with red diamond patterns on it.

"Its a katana. I tend to fight better with them than a gun or a regular sword." The girl said. A silence followed.

"Umm can you help us with something?" Emma asked sheepishly.

"Depends. What is it?"

"We are looking for our son Henry but we don't know if he is here in this world let alone this forest" Emma explained.

"Oh so you two are partners?"

"Oh no! We are most certainly not partners!" Regina exclaimed. Emma just nodded in agreement.

"Ok ok.. Well that depends. Did he take that same orb in your hand here?" The girl asked

"Yes, he did. I don't even know he activated it, he just disappeared in a puff of blue smoke" Regina said.

"Well he is definitely here because that orb only transports its user to one place and one place only and that is Sapphire Kingdom, or any of its territories. This forest just happens to be one of them. Which is why I should get going. But first, who is the biological mother of the boy?"

"Me" Emma said.

"Ok well i'm going to need some of your blood in order to find him" the girl explained. The other two just stood quiet un sure of what to do. Emma quickly looked Regina for advice but the latter simply shrugged not knowing what to do but Emma can see the slight twitch of the mayors lips causing the blonde to narrow her eyes.

"Why do you need my blood?" Emma asked nervously.

"Well you share the same blood no?" the girl asked. Emma just nodded. "Well ill be able to create a link between the two of you and a path visible to only your eyes and that path will lead you to him." the girl explained.

"And how will you do that?" Emma asked.

"Through the same way you got here. Through magic." The girl bluntly stated.

"Wait." Emma said as she turned to Regina. "You said you cant use magic here. Something about it being difficult."

"You can use magic?" The girl asked sounding surprised as she began to walk closer to the silent brunette. Regina just nodded nervously. Emma has never seen Regina like that, she seemed so small and nervous. Was it because of the lack of magic in the air? Surely this girl cant be intimidating enough to scare the brunette. The girl was now only a mere few inches away from Regina and she stared directly into her eyes. Emma was about to ask the girl what she was doing when suddenly the girls eyes widened and she could've sworn that she saw a deathly scowl on her face but it disappeared. The girl just turned around and headed towards Emma leaving a dumbstruck Regina and pulled out her sword. "Give me your arm" she stated demandingly.

"What?! Why?!" Emma yelled out in fear as she started to back away.

"You want to find your son or not? I just need a few drops of blood and this sword is the only sharp object I have to get it" the girl said with an angry tone. Emma just stared at her and stretched out her arm. The girl pricked the blondes forearm and took some blood on each of her left fingers. She mumbled and incantation with her eyes closed and smacked her left hand on the ground, through this, a thick red line was made on the ground and stretched into the forest.

"Follow this line and find your son. I unfortunately cant go with you for I am part of Ruby Kingdom and unless allowed, I cant go into Sapphire territory, or in this case, any further. Ill get into a lot of trouble. If anyone is with your son, don't tell them about me, because if you do, then i'm in trouble and neither of us want that." The girl said. With that, she turned on her heel and began to leave.

"Wait!" Emma yelled. The girl stopped and turned around, an annoyed look on her face and stared at the blonde. "Whats your name? And are there going to be any more of these beasts in this forest?"

"Jane. My name is Jane. And no, if you walk right on this path, none will sense your presence, I enchanted it making it as though its a repellent, also i made it thick enough so your feet will fit in the space. Just make sure to walk one in front and one in the back. I should get going.". Emma just nodded as the girl left. As soon as she was out of ear shot, she turned to Regina.

"She seemed really upset after she took a good look at you. Any ideas why, _Your Majesty_?" Emma said emphasizing the last two words.

"If you're implying that I have a history with her, then you are dead wrong. Ive never seen the girl before. Don't forget Miss Swan, my land was frozen in time for 28 years, and she is only a teenager." Regina snapped back.

"Ok then. Lets get going." Emma said as she started to walk on the red path. "You can't see this path right?" Emma asked. Regina just nodded. "Ok"

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"Ahh welcome back your majesty, can I get you anything?" a butler asked.

"Oh come on Marshall, you know I hate it when you call me that. Im sure we made it clear to not call me that. I don't want that title. Just call me by my name. And no its fine, i'm just gonna go rest long journey."

"My apologies, enjoy your rest and please call me if you need anything. Jane." Marshal said. Jane just nodded and head off to her room as she greeted a few of the other workers.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Reviews are more than welcomed :)


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this ones a bit longer. I want to say don't get used to the frequent updates but I've just been on a roll lately

__"Well, I wonder how outsiders taste.." That was the last thing he said before it started to walk towards the frozen boy._ _

Henry's eyes grew in shock as he saw his predator walk towards him. Tears formed in his eyes as the beast got closer, he was scared. __No, what am I going to do?__ he thought.

The beast is now mere inches away from Henrys face, growling in his face as he sniffs Henry all over with a devious smile on its face. "Bon appetit for m-ugh". The beasts eyes widened as it fell and its head landed on Henrys lap. As soon as Henry felt the impact he scurried away making him see the arrow lodged in the beats back.

"You ok there?" A boys voice yelled out. Henry looked up to see a boy around his age standing on top of a tree with a bow and quiver on his back filled with arrows. He was wearing blue jeans and a white short sleeve shirt.

"Yea I guess." Henry called back. "Who are you?". They boy leapt down from branch to branch until he was low enough to jump down to the ground. He walked towards Henry with his defenses slightly up just in case. The boy had short, light brown but long enough to cover just the top of his forehead, and was slightly taller than Henry. He had light brown eyes and caramel skin that slightly contrasted with his shirt.

"Well since you are asking me who I am, I take it you are not from this land" The boy began. Henry just nodded. "Are you lost or something?" they boy asked.

"Well I found this blue ball and the next thing I knew was that I was transported here. But I dropped it before I was fully transported and my moms saw this but I don't know if they are here." Henry explained. "Is there any way I can go back?"

"I believe so, yes. I traveled through realms once so I believe you can too. My name is Eithan by the way. Whats yours?" Eithan asked.

"Henry" Henry replied. "How did you know that I wasn't from this world?"

"Well Im the prince of the Ruby Kingdom and you are currently in the outskirts of the Kingdom which is off limits unless given permission." Eithan said.

"You're a Prince too?!" Henry asked with excitement clearly showing in his eyes and voice. Eithan just nodded. "Cool! So am I!"

"Really?" Eithan asked with slight amusement in his voice. Henry just nodded eagerly "Yea i'm the grandson of Snow White and Prince Charming, and the son of the Evil Queen, but she is trying hard to redeem herself." Eithan just looked at him with a confused face not understanding anything.

"Care to explain what you just said on the way back to the kingdom?" Eithan asked. Henry understood that this must be confusing for the other boy so he agreed.

"How old are you by the way?" Henry asked.

"Thirteen. What about you?" Eithan replied.

"Eleven." Henry said.

"Ahh so i'm older huh?" Eithan said with a smirk on his face.

"Only by two years. What was that beast thing by the way?" Henry asked

"Ha, still older," Eithan said as he slightly nudged the other boy. "And that, was a humanloyd. Ill explain on the way." With Henrys nod of approval, the two boys started to head out.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Emma and Regina have been following the thick red line for what seemed like hours due to the constant silence between the two. They both noticed the awkward silence but did nothing to break it at first. After what Emma deemed to be long enough, she finally broke the silence.

"You ok there Regina? You seem to be rather quiet since we got here" Emma said.

"Im perfectly fine Miss Swan, please keep your eyes on the line and make sure we are going the right way" Regina said.

"Oh don't worry, we are going the right way. But Im serious, you haven't been acting yourself at all since we got here. Is it because the lack of magic you have?" Emma said as she turned around. Regina nearly bumped into Emma due to her sudden stop, but stopped herself just in time but found herself only a few inches away from the blonde.

"Miss Swan, I assure you I am fine. I have lived without magic before." Regina said but was stopped when Emma rose her eyebrows in surprise. "Yes Miss Swan, believe it or not, I too was once innocent. It's your mother that keeps taking things away from me that keeps me the way I am and not the way I used to be. So yes, Ill be able to survive a few days or a few weeks without magic without making it such a big deal. Now please turn around and lets continue following that line so we can find Henry faster and get home faster"

"Oh I knew you were good once, Its just surprising that you know it." Emma quipped back with a playful grin on her face. Regina replied with a deadly glare and a scowl on her face "Walk" she said, with her voice an octave lower.

"Geez, Regina I was only joking around. Trying to lighten up the mood you know?" Emma said as she turned around and continued to walk but stopped right away causing the former mayor to walk into the blonde.

"What is it now Miss Swan?" Regina said growing more and more irritated with Emma. Emma just stood and turned to the left "This way" she said and continued to walk without another word.

"I told you to pay attention Miss Swan." Regina said as she caught up with Emma.

"Yeah yeah, I got it" Emma muttered as she continued to walk.

The sky grew darker by the hour leaving the two women wondering whether or not they will find Henry by night time. Emma looked up at the sky and saw it was growing to become more of a darker shade of blue but still showed that they still had a few more hours.

"We have a few more hours at best" Emma said.

"Since when do you know how to tell time judging by the color of the sky, Miss Swan?" Regina asked.

"Well, back in my foster days when I would occasionally run away if things got too bad, and I would always look up at the sky to see what time of day it is if I didn't have a watch on me. I guess I just sort of picked up on the skill." Emma explained with a slight frown and a shrug. Regina looked at the blonde and showed slight sympathy in her eyes for she knew that Emmas life was crap because of her. But as soon as the look came, it was gone. They just stood there in silence for a few moments until Regina broke it.

"Well, like you said, we only have a few hours at best so lets not waste anymore time"

"Ok. Can you run?" Emma asked.

"Do these shoes look like shoes you can run in Miss Swan?" Regina asked.

"Right. Sorry, just thought running would get us to him faster" Emma said as she turned to walk the path again.

Emma and Regina walked for about another hour without stopping for they knew that if they stopped, even for a brief moment, their chances of finding Henry before it gets too dark will be lowered. The silence was inexplainable. None of them knew what to talk about without bringing up sensitive topics. Regina obviously did not mind this for she preferred the silence, but Emma on the other hand was feeling uncomfortable with this silence. It wasn't until they heard the familiar laugh of a boy. They both stopped dead in their tracks and turned to each other with eyes wide.

"Henry!" The two women called out simultaneously. The laughter quickly stopped.

"Moms?!" Henry called out looking frantically around for his mothers. With hearing that, both Emma and Regina started to run. Emma leading and Regina following closely behind, not caring about what her feet have to say about running in those heels. After about a minute Henry came in view of the two women and they sprinted even faster.

"Henry!" They both said as they ran up to hug their son.

"Moms! You guys found me!" Henry happily exclaimed as he tightly hugged both of his moms.

"Of course we did kid. Always" Emma said happily.

"Ugh, you are definitely a Charming" Regina said with a scowl on her face. But it was quickly removed when Henry gave her a big hug. Emma just rolled her eyes at the Queens remark. After the quick reunion, Henry introduced Eithan.

"Moms, this is Eithan, hes the Prince of Ruby Kingdom! So technically, we are both royalty!" Henry said with a full smile on his face. "And he saved me from a weird beast". Both of Emma's and Regina's eyes widened. They turned to each other in search of help from one another for none of them really knew how to act in front of a young prince in a land they have never been to.

"Well its a pleasure to meet you, Prince" Regina said.

"Yea, thanks a lot for saving Henry" Emma said with a smile.

"It was my pleasure" Eithan replied with a slight bow. "How about you all visit my home and stay there for the night. Its getting late and you can get a fresh start in the morning"

"Please moms?! I was heading over there anyways!" Henry pleaded. Emma and Regina looked at each other for the answer and slowly nodded.

"Ok lets go. Once again, thank you. My name is Emma" Emma said as she reached her arm out to shake the young Princes' hand. The Prince accepted the hand "Pleased to meet you"

"And I am Regina" Regina said as she shook the Princes' hand after Emma.

"Pleased to meet you as well" Eithan said with a smile. "Lets go, I know a short cut"

The four set off into a woods. Henry and Eithan were chatting up a storm about how royal life is as few feet ahead of Regina and Emma. "He looks so happy" Emma said as she smiled.

"Yes he does but we cant stay here for long Miss Swan. We need to get back to Storybrooke as soon as possible" Regina said firmly.

"I know but, don't you think we can rest a bit? We're gonna be really sore tomorrow due to all of this walking and running." Emma said hoping she'd convince Regina to stay at least a couple of days for she knows she will be sore tomorrow.

"Well as you should know by now Miss Swan, I am used to running so i'm sure ill be fine."Regina said not even bothering to turn around to face the blonde that was currently looking at her.

"Ok. Well I guess we will just have to see what Henry thinks about this. I mean, i'm sure hes exhausted too. He did say he got attacked by one of those beasts, so he may need some emotional rest as well" Emma said with a slight smirk. Regina just kept walking with her same, neutral face.

"Thats a low blow Miss Swan, even for you" Regina said growing irritated with the blonde, more irritated than usual, why she doesn't know.

"Just thinking the safety of our son" Emma said with a shrug. She looked up at the sky and it got gradually darker. The moon was starting to be slightly visible and all the way towards the west were faint shades of pink and red showing the setting of the sun.

"Of course you are" Regina said.

The rest of the journey to the kingdom was in silence for Emma and Regina. They just continued walking behind the two boys who are still talking and laughing. Emma could see that Regina was in pain due to her monstrous heels but decided not to push the brunette for she knew that she'd just irritate her even more.

"Ok, we are at the western gate. The kingdom has four different gates each pointing in different directions. They care all connected by one wall that was placed here many generations ago. Its usually like this for all of the kingdoms here in this land. Its serves well for protection against invaders." Eithan explained. "And it looks like we made it just in time for its about to get real dark" he said with a chuckle.

"Who goes there?!" A guard shouted from one of the many watch towers.

"Its Eithan! I brought guests over on my way back from the Sapphire Kingdom!" Eithan shouted out.

"Raise the gate! The Prince has returned!" the guard shouted. The large stone door was lifted off the ground and created an opening big enough for the four to go through. Said four went through but Henry, Regina and Emma just stopped dead in their tracks.

"This is your kingdom?!" Emma and Henry asked at the same time with wide eyes.

"Yes, why?" Eithan asked confused.

"Its just, so different from the Enchanted Forest. Its so modern, like New York modern" Emma said. The kingdom had many skyscrapers with lights of all colors coming out of them. From inside the kingdom, many different colors painted the night sky and there were many people shopping through each store as others ate in different restaurants. Cars are parked in the driveways and traffic lights hanging off of lampposts just added to the mirage of colors lit throughout the city.

"Yea its so cool! How did you get it like this? And how come we couldn't see the buildings or any of these lights on our way?" Henry asked eager to explore every inch of this kingdom. Although he was slightly upset that he wouldn't experience any new types of lifestyle for this kingdom is pretty much the same as his home.

"When it starts to get dark, we put up a special cloaking shield that helps hide the kingdom from invaders. And throughout the generations, the royal family would visit many realms to adopt their ideas into this kingdom. This is just the commercial area which is, in fact, based off New York. The residential areas are much quieter and have a whole lot more of open fields. Its more rural than here. We are currently in Main Street." Eithan explained to the three.

"Well it certainly is impressive" Regina finally said.

"I think that "impressive" is an understatement" Emma said

"Ha, i'm glad you are enjoying it so far. Come, lets head out towards the palace. Its on Hills View, the more rural area. We can get there by car, it should take about two hours" Eithan said. "You guys can enjoy the view out the window for the time being."

"Ok then, we should get going. The faster the better" Regina said breaking the other two out of their daze.

Eithan called for a car and it did not take long for one to come. In fact, it was almost instant. A town SUV car pulled up. Eithan and Henry sat next to each other and Emma and Regina sat in back of them. The latter was relieved when she sat down for it has been far too long of a walk in those heels that she was wearing. Her feet were killing her.

"Where to, boss?" the driver asked

"The palace please" Eithan replied politely. The driver took off and everyone relaxed for a while after a long day.

"You don't have your own personal car?" Henry asked.

"Nah, I want to fit in as much as possible here. Royalty isn't always nice" Eithan said with a shrug.

Regina scoffed at that comment thinking why would he want that? When she tried to fit in with the peasants, it didn't go well for her. The scoff went unnoticed by the two boys but not by Emma. The blonde just shot her a look.

"Hey try and lighten up ok? We found Henry and we maybe lucky enough if we can find a place to stay tonight before it gets too late" Emma said in a whisper hoping that the two in front of them wouldn't hear.

"Im just tired Miss Swan. These heels aren't for hiking" Regina replied

"No one told you to wear them, Regina"

"Yes but no one told me that we would be traveling to another realm in search of my son either." Regina hissed back.

" _Our_ son"

"Do not push me right now Miss Swan, I am in no mood to deal with you let alone be with you right now" Regina replied with a glare. Emma just leaned back against the chair and crossed her arms.

"You're never in a mood to be with me" Emma muttered to herself.

"What was that?" Regina asked

"Nothing. Lets just rest a bit."

"We're here" Eithan said as he got out of the car. Henry ran out of the car soon after Eithan. Emma and Regina got out of the car, the latter slightly upset for she nearly fell asleep and the sudden wake up is taking a slight toll on her. It was quite dark outside so they couldn't see much, only a black metal fence blocking a few roads here and there illuminated by small lights implanted in the ground. They could, however see the endless fields on both sides of these roads and small houses and cottages scattered around behind said gate along with the silhouette of a castle in the distance.

"Lets go!" Henry explained excitingly. Eithan just chuckled at the kids enthusiasm as he began walking and Emma and Regina just smiled as they both put a hand on each of Henrys shoulder as they started to follow Eithan. After about a five minute walk, they reached the castle. The three visitors stared in awe as they saw it.

The castle was made out of pure white marble with red roofs. Beautiful designs were carved into the walls as torches were placed every ten feet along the circumference of the castle illuminating the walls. The doors were made of cherry wood and were about fifteen feet high with golden handles.

"Welcome to my home" Eithan said with a smile as he pushed open the doors and revealed the inside of the castle. The walls have designer red borders and the floors have red and white tiles. The entrance hall is as big as Regina's mansion. There is a fire wall placed in the left wall along with couches and small coffee tables on each side of the room. About a moment later, a butler came from another room and greeted the guests. "This is our waiting room, yea, I guess you could call it that, if people have any meetings or complaints they come and wait here until they are called in. Marshall!"

"Good evening Prince Eithan, I take it your trip to the Sapphire Kingdom went well?" Marshall said.

"Yea, well it was the usual. This is Henry and his two moms Regina and Emma" Eithan said as he introduced the three behind him. Said three just nodded and said a quiet hello.

"Its a pleasure to meet you all" Marshall said as he gave a slight bow. "Master Eithan, shall I let your sister know of your arrival?"

"Nah ill just go to her myself. You guys should come too. She should know who is going to stay in her castle for the next few days." Eithan said with a slight chuckle.

"What?" the three said in unison. They were definitely not expecting that. Emma and Regina just thought that they would just find an inn of some sort and stay there after they found out that they weren't heading to the Sapphire Kingdom and just wait for Eithan to give them a plan on how to go back.

"Ill have my sister explain, she is the 'Queen' so to speak. So its her choice. Now come on, something tells me i'm gonna get a good scolding from her." Eithan said as he started to head off. The three just looked over to Marshall who simply shrugged. Henry quickly ran after Eithan soon disappearing from sight. Emma and Regina just looked at each other and went after the two boys.

Eithan stopped once he reached two cherry wood doors (much like the ones outside but smaller), took a deep breath and was just about to start knocking when a voice interrupted him from the inside.

"Come in" the voice said. Eithan muttered a small prayer to himself as he opened the door to see his sister. She was sitting behind a large wooden desk filling out some papers not even bothering looking up. Henry took the time to look around the room. Three walls were mainly made up of large bookshelves stuffed with all kinds of books and scrolls. The last wall had a fire place with only one picture on top of it along with a flat screen television hanging up on the wall. There seems to be a similar color theme of red and white for this castle, for these two colors are everywhere.

"Moms! Finally!" Henry said as he saw his two moms approaching. The woman behind the desk shot her head up not expecting there to be someone else with Eithan. As soon as she lifted her head she saw two women. Emma and Regina quickly came into the room but halted as soon as they saw the one sitting behind the desk. Three pairs of eyes widened.

"Oh my god" They all said. Eithan and Henry just looked at each other and then looked at the three women.

"Do you guys know each other?" Eithan asked warily.

"Yes. Yes we do." Regina said.

"She helped us find you, Henry" Emma explained.

"Really?" Eithan and Henry ask at the same time.

"You helped outsiders?" Eithan asked in a disbelieving tone.

"Whats your name?" Henry asked eagerly.

"Yes I did. Why does that sound so disbelieving to you? And my name is Jane. As Eithan probably told you, I am his sister." Jane said 

"It sounds disbelieving to me because you don't like helping people from other realms" Eithan said.

"Wait, how are you a Queen but Eithan is only a Prince?" Henry asked confused.

"Congrats Eithan, you'll be let off the hook today because of our wonderful guests. Why don't you show Henry around the palace and bring him to your room and do whatever you boys do" Jane said as she dismissed the boys trying to avoid Henrys questions. "However, I would like to talk to these two women. So please, if you could give us some privacy for now, that would be great."

"Uhh, sure. C'mon Henry, Ill show you around." Eithan said quite content with himself for he was able to avoid any punishments.

"Oh and don't worry Eithan, youll get your punishment soon enough. I promise you that" Jane said with a slight smirk on her face as she saw Eithan tense up. With that, Eithan led Henry out of the room.

"So why are you in trouble?" Henry asked

"I came back way past curfew" Eithan said

"Oh, sorry about that" Henry said feeling guilty.

"Nah don't worry about it. It happens alot so nothing to feel guilty about. Now come, ill show you around. And don't worry, i'm pretty sure your moms will be just fine" Eithan reassured the younger boy. Henry just nodded in response and began to follow Eithan.

"Please, sit" Jane said as she pointed to the two chairs in front of her desk to Regina and Emma. The two women nervously complied and made their way to the seats. It was safe to say that none of them expected this.

"Now tell me," Jane began as she leaned back on her desk chair and put her legs up on the desk, showing off the tight dark blue skinny jeans and black sneakers. "What brings you two my humble kingdom, after I _specifically_ told you two to go to the Sapphire Kingdom after finding your son"

"Well we found our son, thanks to you, and he was with your little brother. Apparently he saved our son from the same beasts that attacked us." Regina explained in her mayor tone. Her legs were crossed one over the other and her hands were together on top of her lap and her back was straight and her face, emotionless. In other words, she was as regal as she could be. Emma just nodded in response, still dumbstruck by the whole experience she had so far. But she did notice the pose the mayor was in.

"Uh huh" Jane said. She put her legs back under the table and leaned against the desk. "Did you even bother explaining to him how you three even got here? Because i'm sure if you did, then he would've led you to the Sapphire Kingdom."

"Henry wanted to come" Regina simply said

"Thats it? Because of Henry, you came?" Jane asked with a skeptical look on her face. Before Regina could say anything, Emma entered the conversation.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Emma asked.

"Well, I just assumed that Regina herself wanted to come back" Jane bluntly said. Emma just looked at Regina with a confused look. "In fact, theres another reason why I didn't want you to come here"

"What?" Emma asked extremely confused on whats going on right now. Regina just stayed silent and tried to keep her regal pose.

"I didn't want the _Evil Queen_ to step foot in this kingdom again" Jane said putting emphasis on Evil Queen. Emma was completely lost at this point and Regina just pursed her lips into a tight line.

"Ok Regina, what is she talking about, you said that you were never here" Emma said as she turned to Regina.

"Oh she didn't tell you?" Jane asked. "She didn't say what she did to this kingdom shortly before her war with the White Kingdom? All the way back in the Enchanted Forest ALL those years ago?"

"No, she didn't. No one did in fact." Emma said narrowing her eyes.

"Well thats because no one other than myself knows" Regina said as she tilted her head down.

"Well I believe you have some explaining to do" Jane said. "Unless you would like me to do it?" Regina just glared at Jane in response. Jane smirked in triumph. "I guess ill explain after all. Right before the war between her and the White Kingdom, Regina came to this kingdom, my grandparents ruling at the time, and asked for aid. Our military was and still is superb. But you see," Jane said as she got up and rounded her desk to sit right on it, right in front of the girls, her ruby red shirt has a few buttons opened exposing a ruby red circular necklace hanging from neck. "My grandparents declined the offer and sent Regina on her way for they wanted no part in her evil ways. Regina got furious, and burned down our entire kingdom to the ground at night fall, when there was not much security within the kingdom grounds. Quite cowardly if you ask me." Regina clenched her jaw as Jane let the words sink into the blonde before continuing.

"For 5 years, this kingdom _suffered_. However, because of that incident, we upped our defenses and increased our strength as well as increase our magical capabilities. We are able to transport between realms with ease and because of that, we adopted their ideas and used them to our advantages. As i'm sure you saw how Main Street looks a lot like New York City. Its by far my favorite. Well there you have it. Im sure her side of the story is no different, but her side could be a bit more gruesome." Jane said.

"Is this true?" Emma asked not even bothering looking at the woman next to her.

Regina slightly nodded whilst looking down. "Yes".

Emma took deep breaths to calm herself down. "Unbelievable Regina. Do you ever _stop_?" she asked in a angry tone.

"Evil doesn't stop. Shes the Evil Queen. Poor thing, I think that I might feel bad for you" Jane said in a mirthless tone while shrugging.

"You're right, dear. Evil doesn't stop" Regina said as she stood up. "Don't forget who I am, you have no right to talk to me like this. You have no idea what i'm capable of"

"You, are capable of nothing" Jane said. "I know you realized that when you came here, you knew exactly where you were and that you couldn't use your magic. Would you like to know why?"

"Enlighten me" Regina said as she tried to hide the slight falter in her face when she found out that Jane knew she couldn't use her magic here.

"Because my grandparents placed an enchantment on this kingdom shortly after you left. Its much harder to use magic here now than before. Its similar to how the higher one travels up, the harder to breathe, just like how the oxygen gets thinner, the magic got 'thinner'. But of course those who are used to the amount of pressure of magic in the air, are able to access it easier than those new to the environment." Jane explained. "Understand?"

Regina just looked at the younger brunette and nodded.

"Good" Jane said.

"I have a question." Emma said "How did you know who Regina really was. Its not like you knew her from the beginning. You were willing to help us but then your attitude towards us changed. What happened?"

"Oh that," Jane began. "Its something I was born with. If I looked into someones eyes, I am able of seeing their past as well as their greatest fears and inner most desires" Jane explained. "When you said that Regina's magic didn't work, I was curious to know who she was. So I took a look inside her head. The outcome was definitely not what I expected."

"You looked at my past without my permission?!" Regina asked growing angry.

"You burned down my kingdom without any ones permission you evil wench!" Jane explained. Before Regina even had a chance to react, Emma shot straight up from her chair and grabbed Janes collar. The latter was wearing a dumbstruck expression.

"You, will not talk to Regina like that. Do I make myself clear?" Emma growled. Jane slightly calmed down (not too noticeably though) and took the chance to stare straight into the blondes eyes. _Interesting _.__ Jane thought to herself.

"You're defending her after everything shes done to you, Miss Swan?" Jane said with a smirk.

"Shes changing, and thanks for looking at my past by the way" Emma said the last part sarcastically.

"Sorry, just my reflex. Can you please let go of me now? I think I got your point across" Jane said.

Regina just stared at the two women before her with her mouth slightly parted. __Did Miss Swan really just defend me__ _?_ she thought.

"Hey, ill believe it when I see it ok? Im all for change but sometimes, once a heart darkens, theres no going back" Jane said as her collar was released from Emma's grip.

"Regina are you ok?" Emma asked as she stepped closer to the brunette.

"Yes, Miss Swan I am. You did not need to do that" Regina said in a firm voice.

"For Christs sake, why aren't you ever thankful for the fact that Im concerned for you?" Emma asked.

"Because there is no reason for you to be concerned for me Miss Swan. I am perfectly capable of taking care of my self." Regina said.

"Right, of course you are. I am terribly sorry" Emma bit back sarcastically.

"No you're not" Regina said

"Damn right i'm not! You should let people worry about you. God, not everyone is trying to kill you." Emma said growing angry. Jane just continued to sit there and watch with interest as the two continued to argue. She then glanced over at the clock _10:30pm_.

"Ladies! As much as I would love to see you two continue, this is not couples counseling. I suggest you retire for the night and continue tomorrow morning" Jane said as she slid off the desk. "Im pretty sure you both are exhausted, both physically and mentally"

Emma and Regina looked at one another and nodded.

"Ok, lets go find Henry and go find an inn or something" Emma said and Regina nodded.

Jane just looked at them with disbelieving eyes. "For gods sake, I may dislike Regina at the moment but its not like i'm gonna send you guys out to find a place of your own for now. Especially at this hour. Don't forget that it took you two hours to get here. Stay here and ill have Marshall get you two a room" Jane said as she went behind her desk and pressed an intercom button and called for Marshall, Eithan and Henry.

"You expect me to believe the fact that you wont do anything to me while i'm asleep under your roof?" Regina asked. Jane just walked towards Regina and looked at her dead in the eyes. Regina realizing this, quickly tries to push Jane away so she wont get any more glimpses of her past but Jane quickly caught her arms and continued to stare. Regina closed her eyes and Emma quickly came rushing over but Jane stepped away before Emma did anything.

"Your eyes tell me that you are in fact trying to change." Jane said with a serious tone. "So lets make a deal shall we? You don't do anything that will make me suspect you to be an enemy to the kingdom, and I will offer you my hospitality as well as a way back home."

Emma and Regina just looked shocked at that statement and at the sudden change of facial expression that Jane was showing. Regina was at a loss for words. Yes she was trying to change, but should she really believe this girl. She looked over to Emma in hopes of finding an answer. Emma just nodded.

"Very well" Regina said. With that said, Marshall, Eithan and Henry came into the room.

"Good. So how was the exploration Henry? You have fun with my brother?" Jane asked with a smile on her face.

"Yea! This palace is amazing! Its so big! He showed me the arcade, bowling alley, swimming pool, the back yard- which huge by the way- and his room is awesome too!" Henry exclaimed with a cheerful smile. Eithan just smiled and put his hand on Henrys shoulder. Emma and Regina felt some sort of relief knowing that Henry had a good time and that he is smiling.

"Well good news for you boy, you'll be staying here for a while until your moms and I find a way for you to go back ok?" Jane asked as she crouched to Henrys eye level. Henry just nodded. He knew that he wouldn't stay here forever so he decided to make the most out of his little trip.

"Good, now, we have a lot of rooms. So do you want to sleep with your moms, by yourself or with Eithan in a separate bed?" Jane asked.

"Eithan" Henry said without missing a beat. He looked over to his moms in search for an approval. Emma didn't seem to mind and after a few seconds of Henrys best puppy dog eyes, Regina eventually gave in and let Henry spend the next few nights with his new friend. Henry and Eithan jumped up excitedly and quickly left after Henry hugged both of his moms tightly and said good night to them.

"I expect you two to actually sleep and not fool around!" Jane yelled through the hall way. She then returned to the two women and Marshall. "Marshall, lead them each to a guest suite. Get a good nights rest because who knows what you will be doing tomorrow." Marshall nodded as he showed the two women the way.

"Thank you" Emma said. "But you never answered Henrys question. Why are you Queen but Eithan is only a Prince? Shouldnt your parents rule or something?"

"That is a conversation for another day." Jane said as she led the woman away from her office and started to head out in the opposite direction. "Good night ladies".

Marshall led them to their guest suites and told them that there are already clothes set up for them inside and that if they need anything they can call on him through the intercom. The two women just nodded and went in side their room. Emmas eyes widened as she saw the room. Once again, the floors had red and white marble tiles. Two queen size beds are on one side of the room with two large closets on the right side of each bed, while a fireplace is on the opposite wall with a mirror above it. Next to the beds is a glass door leading to a balcony providing them with a view of the field with a small lake in the middle. White walls with red borders and next to the glass door there are red curtains on both sides.

Emma walked inside fully taking in their surroundings. Emma walked into the bathroom and saw a white jacuzzi with a shower head high up on a wall. She turned to the side and saw the bathroom cabinet. It had mirrors for doors and was bordered by translucent red borders. After marveling at the room a little bit more, she took off her jacket and went to Reginas room down the hall. She opened her door (forgetting to knock knowing Regina is going to say something but oh well) only to find Regina sitting on one of the beds looking down at her hands.

"Hey you ok?" Emma asked as she sat next to Regina. Regina just nodded and response and began to stand up when Emma grabbed her wrist. "Look at me, no matter what happens, ill be here for you ok? Ill help protect you. I believe you when you say you're changing." Emma said. Regina was about to open her mouth but Emma didnt let her speak. "You can object to it all you want but this is my decision and I made it." Emma said it in such a tone that Regina knew it wasn't up for debate.

"What ever makes you happy Miss Swan" Regina replied as she took the silk pajamas that were laid for her on the bed and walked to the bathroom to change. She was too tired to argue with the savior right now. She just needed some rest. When Regina came out of the bathroom, she saw Emma heading for the door.

"Goodnight Regina" Emma said as she left.

After a few moments of silence, Regina finally spoke up, mainly talking to herself.

"Good night Miss Swan"

  


 


	4. Chapter 4

The sun shown through the balcony doors right onto Regina's eyes. Regina woke up and glanced at the clock seeing it was closing on to noon. She sat up with haste and wide eyes on her bed and tried to recollect what happened the day before. She remembered how Henry had disappeared in a cloud of smoke into another land and how her and Emma set out to find him. She remembered that they did find him and how they arrived at the royal palace of Ruby Kingdom. She also remembered how Emma defended her when Jane was criticizing her. As soon as that memory came, she quickly dismissed it. __Now why would I care about that?__ She thought.

Regina decided it was time to get up and headed off to the bathroom to wash up. Hopefully they would find a way to get back to Storybrooke today. She did not feel like staying here any longer. If any one else knew of her history here then it could cause trouble. And she really did not want Henry finding out. She was trying her best to be the person he wants her to be and if he were to find out, it would cause some major set backs. She looked out of the balcony doors and saw the sun high up in the sky shining down on the green fields. There were a few small cottages here and there along with their own beautiful gardens. And to the left there is a small lake. On the right side she saw the stables far off in the distance. It was a beautiful view.

Regina wanted to change back into her own clothes but couldn't find them anywhere. She contemplated about waking up the blonde but doing that would just mean that she would just have to put up with her longer than needed. With that, she decided to just go out in her pajamas. Lucky for her, it was a pajama suit like the one she has back at Storybrooke so it was nothing for her to fuss over about too much. She looked at herself in the mirror before heading out making sure she looked as professional as possible. After a few moments of looking she tried forming a fireball in her hands. She could feel the magic running through her body but she is having much difficulty bringing it out. Its as if theres just a tiny little hole only letting out a small amount of the larger amount of magic out bit by bit. It took out a lot of energy from her so she decided to give up on the matter for now.

Regina wasn't really paying attention to where she was going for she was thinking about Henry. She wondered if he was awake right now. He did go to sleep pretty late and it has been an exhausting day yesterday. She wouldn't be upset with him if he were. He is only eleven, even she knew that kids needed to sleep. As she snapped back from her thoughts she saw she was going down a hallway and decided to keep walking, god only knows where she could end up. She saw different painting of landscapes hanging up on the white marble walls. She realized that this palace has a color scheme of red and white. Regina walked until she saw one of the servants walking towards her.

"Excuse me, but do you know where I can find the kitchen?" Regina asked.

"Oh yes of course, just make a left at the end of the hallway there and go downstairs. It mainly takes up the entire floor. There will be two doors for its entrance. Since you are a personal guest of Jane, go through that kitchen and out through another door, its a smaller kitchen mainly reserved for everyday use." The servant said with a small yet polite smile.

"Thank you" Regina said as she made her way towards the kitchen.

She made her way towards the end of the hallway and saw a large spiral staircase leading towards the kitchen. She went downstairs and saw two cherry wood doors. She opened one of them and the sight nearly took her breath away.

The kitchen it self was absolutely spotless, as if they just had everything installed the other day. Not only was it very clean, but it was very big. All the appliances were along the wall leaving the center of the room free. There were three refrigerators on one wall along its opposite wall. There seemed to be three of each kitchen appliances. Three ovens, three stoves, three microwaves, and three large sinks along with wide counters giving space between each appliance. Blenders and mixers filled these counters. Above these counters were cabinets also made of cherrywood. This was a kitchen like the famous chefs have but much much bigger. She saw another door on the opposite wall from her. She walked towards the door still looking around wondering why there are three of each on both sides of the kitchen. She opened the door and saw a certain someone already sitting there sipping a drink. She slightly grimaced to herself not wanting to see the teen until if possible, much later. But never the less, she put up her walls and put on her regal face and went into mayor mode.

"You're up rather early today" Jane said as she turned around to see Regina. She smirked to herself seeing how prepared the mayor was trying to look. "Coffee?" she asked while pointing to the coffee machine.

"Its nearing noon. How is this early?" Regina asked as she walked towards the machine and began making herself some coffee. She saw that this kitchen is much like her own but somehow, it seemed much simpler. Just like in the bigger kitchen, all the appliances are up to date. The oven was opposite of the refrigerator which was next to the sink. Red granite counters lined against the walls along with cabinets under them and closets next to them with glass doors. All following the same color scheme of red and white. Jane was sitting next to an island which had six bar stools.

"Well judging by your day yesterday, you would be asleep longer. And this is pretty early for me for a Sunday. I usually sleep in until like, 1 or 2, depending on how my Saturday night goes of course." Jane said simply as she continued to sip on her drink.

"Well it may be true that my day was rather exhausting yesterday, I do not like to sleep late" Regina said as she filled her mug with coffee.

 _ _Rather exhausting? Shes trying too hard to look strong..__ Jane thought to herself. "Afraid you'd get assassinated?" Jane said into her cup with a little smirk.

"Oh trust me dear, not even in my sleep will some one dare and try to kill me" Regina said without missing a beat.

"Ha. Challenge accepted, your Majesty." Jane said. She saw the sudden growth of seriousness in Reginas face. "Oh calm down. Im not going to do anything. Just thought Id put some humor in the morning after a rough day." Jane said with her hands up in defense. "And besides, I promised Emma I wouldn't do anything to you, and I keep my word."

"Oh really? Rather honorable of you Princess" Regina put an extra emphasis on the word princess.

"Ok first of all, if you want to piss me off about calling me something royal, at least get it right. Its Queen. Second of all, don't call me any of that. And third of all, I will respect your decision on redemption by not calling you the Evil Queen only if you just call me Jane. I am willing to be on casual terms with you. Eithan knows nothing of this Kingdoms past so I don't want him to find out that his new friend is the son of the woman that caused this kingdom its suffering for years through us fighting. What happened all those years ago with you and my kingdom will be forgiven and forgotten only if you show your worth here. Only if I see you do not pose a threat to me, my family, or my Kingdom" Jane said with a stern look.

Regina took a sip of her coffee and visibly relaxed as the hot liquid went down her throat. She thought about what Jane just said. She did not want Henry to know either. Even though she promised him no more lies, she just couldn't risk the chances of a set back. "Very well. We will be on good terms. I will not pose a threat to you if you do not pose a threat to me."

"Thats fine with me. Now i'm not saying we have to be best friends because I can tell just by looking at your face that it was hard for you to say that and break through the dozens of layers of stubbornness your personality contains, but we just have to be able to sit down, talk, eat and not break out into a world war." Jane said. Regina slightly frowned at the mention towards her personality but dismissed it.

"Ok" Was all Regina said. She continued to sip her coffee when a certain blonde appeared through the door.

"This place is pretty sick!" Emma said with a smile and relief on her face when she saw Regina standing there in the kitchen.

"Im glad you're enjoying yourself." Jane said as she returned her smile.

"I see you are also quite loud in the morning Miss Swan." Regina said

"Well Good morning to you too. And god Regina, you could wake me up if you're up you know." Emma said.

"Why would I do that? Worried for me Miss Swan?" Regina said with a smirk. Emma just looked at her not really knowing what to say with Jane around. Its not like she hated the teen, but after what she heard, she wouldn't be too surprised by the fact Regina was kidnapped in her sleep and sent off into a dungeon.

"Shes was worried because she thought I kidnapped you or killed you and sent your body to a dump." Jane said with a slight chuckle. "Coffee?" Emma just nodded slightly and got up to make herself some coffee.

"Well don't worry about me Miss Swan, I told you I can very much take care of myself." Regina said.

"Ok ok. Whatever you say. How long have you been here anyways?" Emma asked as she worked the machine.

"Not too long." Regina said as she sat down across from Jane.

"Yeah we were just talking." Jane said as she made a mental note about the fact Regina only sat down when Emma came in.

"Really? Wow, i'm surprised you didn't rip each others throats out" Emma said with a grin.

"Oh I believe I should say that about you two. You were the one with your hand nearly around her throat last night." Regina said.

"Yea well.." Emma muttered to herself as she turned around to pour herself a cup of coffee. Emma sat down next to Regina and sipped on her coffee and released a satisfied sigh.

"God, how can you drink that?" Jane said with a slight scowl.

"Hey, I don't know what Id do without it. You don't like coffee?" Emma asked.

"Nah, more of a tea person myself" Jane said as she raised her glass.

"Not a tea fan" Emma said.

"Do you think Henry is up yet?" Regina asked

"Oh those two have been up for a while now." Jane said as she took another sip of her tea.

"What? Where are they?" Regina asked.

"Eithan took Henry out to the stables. Said something about Henry wanting to learn how to ride a horse." Jane said.

"You sent my son out to the stables in a strange land without my consent to it?" Regina said growing furious.

"You guys have horses here?" Emma asked as if she hadn't heard what Regina just said.

"Miss Swan!" Regina yelled out.

"Calm down Regina. Eithan is a responsible kid. He would never do anything stupid without my permission" Jane said.

"Yea calm down a bit Regina. Henry is a responsible kid too. And don't forget that Eithan saved Henrys life so its not like i'm too worried" Emma said. "And besides, don't forget that Henry went all the way to Boston by himself." Regina looked at Emma.

"Oh Eithan is strong for his age. He may be young but he can protect anyone from nearly anything. And besides, this is a good opportunity for us to talk"

"Talk?" Emma and Regina both said at the same time.

"Well yea," Jane began "I don't know about you but id like to get to know the people that are currently making themselves at home in my palace. Or I could just look in your eyes and get your entire past but that takes up my energy too, so id rather not."

"Uh, fine I guess" Emma said. Regina just sat down without another word.

"Good. Now how about you two lovely ladies start. Any questions?" Jane asked with a playful smile.

"Yea," Emma began. "Why do you three of everything in your kitchen over there on separate sides?"

"Really Miss Swan. That is your first question about this whole ordeal. About her kitchen" Regina said growing more and more annoyed.

"What? Im sure you were wondering too"

"I don't find myself to be able to care enough about her kitchen at the moment"

"Key words are 'at the moment' which means, one day, you'll be curious. Im just trying to find out now. You know, so curiosity doesn't kill you" Emma said with a smirk

"Oh Miss Swan believe me, either you or your family will be the death of me" Regina muttered into her cup as she took another sip of her coffee. Jane just chuckled at the little banter going on between them.

"Hey, its fine. Its not like worrying too much will help out your situation any more than just taking it easy. And if you must know, the left side of the kitchen is for cooking and the right side is for baking." Jane said.

"Oh well I guess that makes sense. You guys host parties or something a lot?" Emma asked.

"Again with the pointless questions" Regina said. Emma just shot her a glare.

"Whenever we get the chance. Don't forget that Main Street is like New York City. So its a party every night out there. But we still hold on to our traditions, such as balls and historic celebrations. Even though it's a city life out there, the people still hold onto the traditions." Jane explained.

Emma was about to speak again when Regina interrupted her.

"Ok, lets get to the more serious questions now. Why isn't my magic working? And where are our clothes?" Regina asked with a stoic face.

"Leave it to Regina to ask about her magic first" Jane mocked. For some unknown reason, Regina hoped Emma would say something to Jane for stating that sentence but Emma remained silent. "As I said last night, we improved and rose our limits. For people that are not adapted to this environment, using magic is like breathing on top of a mountain with no proper gear. Or when you are trying to squeeze out a gallon of honey through a minuscule hole. I take it that you tried out your magic this morning?"

"Yes and it did not work" Regina said.

"Well now you know why" Jane said with a grin. “As for your clothes, Marshall took them to get cleaned. Trekking through the forest all day can leave you with a scuff mark or two.”

"Is there any way for me to actually use it here?" Regina asked

"You would have to get used to the environment, which could take at least a year. You're better off just waiting until you return to your home to use your magic again"

"And in how long we will be able to go home?"

"Anytime really. I should have a gem stone that can teleport you guys back" Jane said with a shrug.

Regina and Emma just looked at each other and then back at Jane.

"So lets go now!" Both Emma and Regina said.

"OK, but do you have any more questions? Who knows, you could come back here any time. Unexpectedly." Jane said.

"No we do not have any more questions, please just allow us to go back to our home and we will be out of your way" Regina said. Emma just nodded in agreement.

"Ok then, follow me" Jane said as she got up and started walking towards the door. Emma and Regina followed her in silence as they made their way through the kitchen. Jane then led them up the staircase and past the room where Regina and Emma spent the night. They stopped in front of a wall which is next to what looks like to be Jane's room. Jane put two fingers on the wall and moved them in a certain pattern. Within seconds, the wall moved revealing a brightly lit room with gems lined across the walls.

"No. Way." Emma said. Her eyes and mouth were both wide opened. Along the left wall, there were sapphires lined neatly on shelves, along the right wall were what looked like onyxes and the center of the wall, rubies were lined up. There were thousands of each and each one is about the size of a fist.

"I know right. You cant really tell right now but if you turn off the lights, they all glow their respective colors and its absolutely breathtaking." Jane said with a slight smile on her face.

"Why do you need so many?" Regina asked, curiosity getting the best of her.

"Oh look who's getting curious now" Emma said with teasing grin.

"You know what, forget I even asked!" Regina said as she raised her arms.

"We keep them here just in case theres a war or any sort of battle that needs assistance"

"We?" Regina and Emma asked at the same time

"Yea. Each kingdom has a set of these somewhere in their castles." With that, Jane turned on her heel and walked to the very end of the room towards the wall. "Shit" Emma and Regina heard that and quickly rushed over.

"Whats wrong?" Regina asked

Jane didn't answer. She walked over to a rather large looking ruby and called Marshall's name. "Marshall, where's the Realm Ruby?"

Within seconds, Marshall's face showed on the ruby. Regina automatically thought of her mirror with Sidney in it.

"Oh well it's been a year Jane, Daniel went out again" Marshall stated simply.

"Damn. Already a year?"

"Language, Jane" Marshall reprimanded.

"Yea yea. Thanks though. Continue what you were doing" Jane said as she hung up. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath and turned around to face the other two women. "Well it looks like your stuck here."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know what you guys think :)
> 
> ~J


	5. Chapter 5

_"Well it looks like you're stuck here"_

Silence.

Regina and Emma just stared at Jane, processing the information in silence.

It was silent.

For a good minute before Regina blew a fuse.

"What do you mean we are stuck here?!" Regina yelled. Both Emma and Jane slightly jumped at Regina's sudden outburst.

"Will you calm down-"

"I will not calm down! You said you are able to get us out of here! And now you are saying we are stuck?! How on Earth am I supposed to calm down?!" Regina yelled. Emma saw this and knew that if she said anything, even to back up Regina, she'll prob run the risk of receiving one of Regina's famous deaths glare that can and will make you cry.

"If you would let me finish speaking then you can get your damn answer!" Jane yelled back. Regina's glare didn't subside but put her head back allowing Jane to speak. "Thank you"

"As I was trying to say, yes you guys are stuck here. But not forever. Just about a month, if not less. That's all" Jane said. At this, Emma's eyes widened and Regina grew red. Again.

"A month?!" Regina yelled out. "Why! Explain yourself!"

"Of course your majesty" Jane gritted out earning a small glare from both the blonde and brunette. "Once every year, I send out one of my personal advisors, Daniel, to your realm"

"Why?" Emma finally spoke out. "What would you want from our world? And how is he able to get back if there is no magic there?"

"We are currently searching for someone that was once part of this kingdom. And the Realm Ruby does not need any outside magic. It has magic already stored in it ready for use. Sort of like a personal generator." Jane explained. "Daniel leaves every year for one month, and because this is your realm we are talking about, which has not a single drop of magic, he can only stay there for a month and then he has to come back, it then takes 10 months to recharge."

"But you just said that it doesnt need any outside magic and that it has magic in it! Why would you need outside magic now?" Regina asked growing impatient

"It doesn't necessarily need outside magic, but it takes less time to recharge if there was. As you know, traveling realms takes up a lot of magic and energy, the more there is, the better. The Realm Ruby has a limited amount of power. Only enough for one round trip, however, if there is magic outside of it, it can be used longer" Jane said and as she finished she sees the perplexed looks on their faces. She let out a sigh and raised up her hand to stop any of them from starting to talk.

"Think of it as this, if you charge your phone while you play it, you don't lose any batter life correct? Because your phone is constantly connected to an outside power source that keeps fueling it. Just apply that logic to this. The more magic there is in the air, the less of its own magic the Realm Ruby uses. But if you use a lot of your phones battery life and have no where to charge it, it still goes down correct? Well its the same with the Realm Ruby, one you start using it, little by little it starts to drain. Outside magic fuels the Realm Ruby just like your charger fuels your phone" Jane said. Relief filled her as she sees a somewhat look of understanding flashing in the pairs eyes.

"So how long do we really stay here for if it takes 10 months for it to recharge and your Daniel guy wont be back for a month" Emma says.

"Just one month." Jane said. "You'll be able to use the Realm Ruby as its charging, just let it regain some magic first and then you're off." She let the words sink in a little before continuing. "So.. are we good or is Regina going to blow another fuse?" That earned a glare from said brunette. Before anything else can be said, the doors opened, showing two boys with huge smiles.

"Hey sis, I thought you'd be here" Eithan said. Jane just stood there dumbstruck.

"WOAHHH! WHAT IS THIS PLACE?!" Henry exclaimed.

"Eithan, how did you know I was here, let alone know where this room is?" Jane said slowly recovering from the sudden discovery of her brother.

"Oh come on, what do you think I do when you ground me and I cant go outside?" Eithan said as he crossed his arms across his chest.

"You roam my halls when you're supposed to be studying?!" Jane said growing furious. Eithan saw this and uncrossed his arms as his eyes widened.

"Henry we are leaving. Now" Eithan said as he grabbed the younger boys hand and ran dragging Henry along ignoring his questions on what that room was.

"Henry wait-!" Regina said but was interrupted by Jane.

"Just leave them, they can run but they sure as hell cant hide. Any more questions? To recap, you'll be staying here for a month" Jane said.

"Yes I have a question. What are we supposed to do here for a month?" Regina asked. Jane just gave her a look of disbelief.

"Damn, you're really strict with Eithan on the studying, huh?" Emma said. Regina just rolled her eyes for the umpteenth time since they arrived.

"Really?" Jane said. Regina didn't seem to understand. "You're in a new realm and you have no idea what to do for a month? Regina, you can do anything. Just relax and have fun. And Emma, i'm only strict with him because, and i'm willing to admit that, I did not study too well in my younger years for i felt that my parents would just do everything until I obtained a better grasp on ruling myself without the need of books. However, they passed away pre maturely and because Eithan is not yet of age to rule, I am the one stuck in this position. I need to make sure he knows how to rule" Jane explained.

"How am I supposed to relax if there is a chance my son can find out what I did here at any second? Do you not know what will happen to me? I don't think ill ever be able to ask for his forgiveness." Regina said.

"You wont have to because he wont find out. Like I said, be good and no one gets hurt. It goes for me too." Jane said seriously. "Is that all?"

"Wait," Emma said. "Who exactly are you looking for?"

"That," Jane began, pausing for a moment to think if she should answer or not. "is not really any of your business. If nothing else, lets go eat lunch, Marshall should have something for us by now." Jane said as she started to walk out of the room. Emma and Regina just look at each other before following Jane out the door.

The trio made their way past the halls and into the main dining room. There was a large cherrywood table smack in the middle. Enough for about 16 people. The table was filled with food of all sorts ranging from different breads, to salads, and appetizers. The table was set for 5 but the food was enough to feed 15.

"Wow," Emma said with wide eyes and open mouth. "Whats with all of this food for?"

"Well its lunchtime.." Jane said unsure of the question.

"Yea but all of this? Don't you think its a bit over the top?" Emma said as she pointed to the table.

"Yes and there are only five table settings" Regina added.

"Ohh" Jane said finally understanding what they meant. "Well excuse me if i'm trying to impress the royals of two other kingdoms" she said with a grin and a wink as she took her seat.

"Wait what. Im not-" Emma began but was cut off by the teen.

"Oh but you are, Princess Emma of the White Kingdom." Jane said emphasizing the royal title. Regina just gave a slight smirk. "And Regina, I know we agreed that I would not address you as the "Evil Queen", however you were a "Queen" never the less before your evil days. So therefore, please make yourselves comfortable and choose a seat. The boys should be back in a few moments."

With that being said, Emma and Regina took their seats. Regina sat across from Jane with Emma just two seats away so that Henry could sit in the middle. Jane would then sit next to Eithan.

"Master Eithan and Master Henry have entered" Marshall said as Eithan and Henry entered the room and took their spots. Henry was overwhelmed by the amount of food he saw on the table. __Like mother, like son__ Regina thought.

The meal was quiet for about two seconds before Henry started talking about everything he saw in the gardens and stables.

"I really like the horses, Eithan!" Henry said as he took a bite of his bread.

"Im glad you do! And you're quite the rider for an eleven year old. I'm impressed." Eithan said with a smile. Regina couldn't ignore the wonderful swell she got in her heart when she heard Eithan speak those words. It reminded her of her childhood years when she just started riding horses and how much she loved it.

"Oh so the kid can ride a horse huh?" Emma said with a chuckle

"Yea and its so much fun!" Henry said with a silly grin

"You guys are welcome to ride the stables at any time while you are here, we have a large open field for them and if you'd like, you can take a route through the forest. Just don't go too far, it can get dangerous" Jane said.

"How long will we be staying here mom?" Henry asked hoping she wouldn't say "not too long" or "just today".

Regina looked to Jane who just gave an apologetic look and shrugged. She sighed and told Henry that they would be staying for about a month. Henry gets super excited and high fived Eithan.

"A month, huh? Why though? Dont you have a family back where you are? They would get worried" Eithan said with a questionable look.

"Apparently your Rea-" Regina began however Jane cut her off.

"Regina was wed into the White Kingdom as Queen, so I wanted to take this opportunity to find out what its like to rule in another realm, from a primary source" Jane said. "Now enough questions, it looks like you two boys are done eating" Jane said seeing their empty plates. "Eithan, why don't you show Henry how you study, if you even do that is" Jane said with a stern look.

"Of course I study" Eithan huffed. "Come on, Henry, Ill show you the library" Henry agreed and followed Eithan out the door. Jane waited for them to be completely out of ear shot before speaking once more.

"I know I didn't say this, but please don't tell Eithan about the Realm Ruby. He cant know what it is, what it is for or what we use it for." Jane said with pleading eyes. "He's only thirteen so hes young, reckless and very naive, despite how he acts. To be honest, I don't know how he figured out the pattern to unlock that room. I don't even know how he even found it." Regina and Emma just nodded saying they wont mention anything. Jane smiled at them in return.

"So," Jane began again. "You'll be here for a month, any questions on how everything works around here? Or should I just start from the beginning?"

"Beginning please. What is this place?" Emma asked

"And you, Regina?" Jane asked.

"I know what this place is. Just tell me what happened since I was last here and why I cant use my magic." Regina said with a scowl knowing that Jane wanted to just tick her off a bit.

"Very well." Jane said. Two servants started clearing the table as Jane began speaking. "You are currently in Gem Kingdom, Ruby Kingdom, to be specific. There are five kingdoms making up Gem Kingdom; Ruby Kingdom, Sapphire Kingdom, Emerald Kingdom, Onyx Kingdom and Amber Kingdom. In my opinion, the latter shouldn't even be classified as a gem for its fossilized syrup but what are you gonna do? Each kingdom, obviously has a king and queen along with an heir and lords and ladies and what not. And the only way to strengthen your kingdom, is to expand it. Thankfully, we haven't had a reason to do such a thing as of yet."

"As of yet? You're of age to get married, are you not?" Regina asked as Emma was still processing everything.

"Technically yes, however the only kingdom that has a male heir my age is the prince of the Onyx kingdom and he's already betrothed to the daughter of King Wallas and Queen Mariana of the Amber Kingdom. The rest of Gem Kingdom has female heirs around my age give or take five years." Jane explained.

"So do you have to marry a girl to expand the kingdom?" Emma asked

"If worst comes to worst then yes. However King Verlot and Queen Juliana of Sapphire Kingdom have two daughters, Annabelle, who is my age and Kimberly who is two years shy of Eithan. So we are waiting for both of them to become of age so they can wed as well as rule." Jane said as she received a cup of tea from one of the servants after the table has been cleared.

"If worst comes to worst?" Regina asked as she sipped her tea. Emma politely declined the tea since she was more of a coffee person.

"Well if a tragic incident were to happen preventing them from getting married. Then yes I will have to take up a partnership with Annabelle" Jane said.

"Thats normal here?" Regina asked baffled by the fact two women can rule one kingdom.

"Well it hasn't happened at all to my knowledge but its not like we expected all five kingdoms to have daughters as their first born, and only born for some."

"Would you two... you know?" Emma asked cautiously hoping they would get what shes saying.

"Would we what?" Jane asked knowing full well what Emma was referring to. Unlike Regina who was unsure of where Emma was getting at.

Emma didn't really want to say it, thinking it would be a little out of her place since she is in the presence of two queens.

"Em?" Jane asked putting her cup down. "You alright there?" She added with a chuckle.

"Would you two be intimate towards one another?" Emma said thanking god she didn't just blurt out _"would you two have sex_ ". Reginas eyes widened and Jane just burst out laughing. _Ill give her points for rewording her question_ Jane thought.

"Miss Swan you cant just ask that!" Regina said with a glare pointing at Emma. Emmas mouth was slightly open and was about to apologize when Jane interrupted.

"Its fine Regina," Jane said as she continued drinking her tea. "Eithan asked me something similar years ago. He asked me if we were going to do what married people do. I simply told him we will do what we have to do in the situation we are in. And i'm giving you that same answer." She said smiling.

"Excuse her crudeness" Regina said. "Would the other king and queen be alright with this?"

"As I said, if worst comes to worst, they wont have a choice. Especially if a war breaks out. We are quite close. These Ambers are idiots and have absolute no idea how to rule" Jane said with her nose scrunching as she talked about the Amber kingdom. "Anyways, ill move on to answering your question, Regina." Regina gave a small nod.

"Since you came here some thirty plus years ago, by the way you are telling me what you use to look so young, my grandparents put up an enchantment all around Ruby Kingdom to prevent people from using magic easily. Were people upset? Yes. Did they riot? Yes. So what we did to compensate was that we started traveling to other realms and bringing in new ideas to help industrialize our realm so we wont have to be so dependent on magic. And thank god for New York because that place saved us. Who knew ipods were the future? Or that toasters made breakfast more enjoyable? However my grandparents passed away giving my parents the right to rule. Everything was peaceful but they soon joined my grandparents and left Eithan and I here. I was only twelve and he was five." Jane said with a slight frown due to the latter sentence. "Thats it really. I don't know what more I can tell you about what happened after you left"

"I see." Regina said. Marshall entered the room to clear away the tea. "Master Eithan is asking if he can ride into the woods with Henry. He promises to stay within the boundaries."

"Sure" Jane said absent mind-idly as she just looked at her table. Marshall studied her for a brief moment before exiting with the tea set in his hands.

“Why can Eithan go into Sapphire Kingdom but you can't?” Emma asked.

“I mean I can go, it's just that their majesties hate it when I come unannounced. Also they more or less hate me.” Jane said sheepishly. “And besides, because he'll be betrothed to Kimberly, the royal family and I agreed that it would be nice of them to get to know each other some more, so one weekend a month he goes there.” Jane said sheepishly.

“Why do they hate you?” Emma and Regina asked.

“They claim i'm a bad influence on their daughter. We've been friends for years and apparently she only does bad things when she's with me but Annabelle is sneaky when she wants to be.” Jane explained. "Is that all?" Jane asked as she looked at the two women. Emma just nodded not really knowing what else to ask at the moment and Regina found out all she needed to know.

"Well then," Jane said as she took a look at her watch. "Its 2:15 pm. I have paperwork I need to attend to so Ill be taking my leave. You two are welcome to do whatever you please either here or outside the gates in the city. Enjoy yourselves for there is much to do and so little time." Jane said as she got up and stretched.

"We have a month, i'm sure thats plenty of time" Regina said as both she and Emma got up.

"A lot can happen in a month." Jane said as she took her leave.

"So what now?" Emma asked as Jane left.

"Im going to take a look around the palace a bit." Regina said

"Why?" Emma squinted her eyes wondering what Regina could be up to.

"Calm down i'm simply curious as to what the place I am staying for a month looks like. I never really got the chance to look around last time I was here." Regina said as she crossed her arms. Emma looked at her for a while to see if there were any signs of lying.

She came up empty.

"Fine. Im going to go take a nap then." Emma said with a yawn.

"Very productive" Regina said

"Oh what ever" Emma said as they went their separate ways.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Regina walked around the palace admiring the art within the structure. She noted that there are many paintings nature and past rulers whom are Janes ancestors. As she walked through the halls, climbed up and down various stairs and entered many rooms, she noted all of the things that she grew fond of. Whether it was small pieces of furniture, or just the paintings themselves. Some reminded her of Storybrooke. She walked around and when she entered the foyer, she saw two large portraits of the late king and queen, whom she assumed are Janes parents. She noticed that Jane looks more like her mother rather than her father, but they share the same eyes.

Regina continued walking as she entered a room. A very large room for that matter. She looked around and deducted that it was a ball room. On the left side there was a grand piano along with a special stand for musicians. She walked over to the piano, observing its keys and pressed a few of them. Memories of her childhood came back when her father showed her how to play. She smiled at the memory for it was on of the very few she had of her being happy. She continued looking around when she spotted a door with a gold plaque behind an open red velvet curtain. The plaque read "In Loving Memory". Regina opened the door and entered the room. It was a small room. She turned on the lights an saw that only three pictures were hanging on the walls with small plaques attached underneath of them.

She looked at the first. She saw a tall man with dark hair and slightly ruggish features wearing a crown and a generals suit. The plaque read "Victor Ronan. Beloved Father. 1965-2012". Regina gasped and looked at the others. The second one was of a woman with brown hair up to her chest and a soft yet loving smile with a face covered in light freckles. She was wearing a sleeveless red red gown. The plaque read "Alexandria Ronan. Beloved Mother. 1967-2012." She quickly recognized them as the previous king and queen, however the third one, she did not recognize. The third one showed a young woman who resembles Jane in many ways however this woman has very curly hair and a lighter skin tone. Regina noticed that there wasn't a plaque underneath this one which made her curious as to why there wasn't. _"Is this a portrait of Jane when she maybe had her hair curled?_ " Regina thought. She continued to look at the portrait and decided that next time she sees Jane, she'll ask about it. With that in mind, Regina left the room and continued looking around.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Jane mulled over her paperwork and was practically sitting over her desk until Marshall walked in carrying a letter.

"Oh Marshall thank god you're here because I don't think I can do this any longer." Jane said as she leaned back with a groan.

"Its been thirty minutes, Jane" Marshall said. Jane just sighed and asked him what did he bring her. "A letter from King Wallas, calling an emergency meeting."

"Ew no. Tell them i'm sick" Jane said as she started twirling her pen.

"The meeting is scheduled to be in a fortnight from tomorrow" Marshall informed her.

"Tell them I'm going to be sick". Marshall just stared at her. Jane stared back, not willing to give up without a fight. After what seemed like forever, Jane finally blinked and cursed under her breath. "FINE. ILL BE THERE" She groaned out.

"If that is what you wish" Marshall said with a small smile. Jane sent him a half hearted glare. She turned around and stared out the giant window behind her desk giving her a wonderful view of the yard and its stables.

"You didn't tell them." Marshall said.

"Tell them what?" Jane said

"About her."

Jane stood quiet. She didn't like talking about it. About her. She just knew one thing and one thing only. She had to find her no matter what. "Whats there to tell?"

"Dont play coy, Janelyn"

"I didn't see a point to it."

"A point to not mention your older sister?" A silence followed that sentence. Marshall stood there, hands clasped behind his back, waiting for her to reply.

"Yes. There was no point.”

  


 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> things will speed up a bit more after this chapter. It's turning into more slow burn than i originally planned lol. Let me know what you guys think :)
> 
> ~J


	6. Chapter 6

“Ok Henry, lets go!” Eithan said as he hopped onto his horse.

 

“I'm coming!” Henry answered him as he began to catch up with Eithan.

 

The two first started to slowly tread against the open field and soon picked up their pace. Eithan's horse, was a chestnut brown steed with a dark brown mane and the blackest eyes. Henrys horse was a slightly lighter brown with the same dark brown mane yet with light brown eyes. As they made a few rounds around the open green field, they began to once more pick up the pace into a gallop. Eithan looked over to the younger boy and saw one of the biggest smiles hes ever seen.

 

“Henry, follow me. I wanna show you something” Eithan said as he made a turn towards the forest.

 

“Ok!” Henry said, his smile not faltering in the slightest.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

“Ok but seriously how is he saying its an emergency meeting if it's in two weeks? Show me the logic in that. Please.” Jane said as she places her head down on top of her paperwork for the umpteenth time.

 

“He is giving you and the rest of the rulers time to get ready. Don't you remember how angry King Alfred became when the last meeting was held without at least a week in advance notification?” Marshall said as he poured some tea into a tea cup.

 

Jane let out a chuckle. “Yea, that was quite a sight. Dorthea and her mother were beet red. I couldn't stop laughing at his angry rambles. And their faces.”

 

“Yes well, this is probably for them. To ensure that they cannot get angry at the impromptu meeting.”

 

Jane hummed in agreement as she took a sip of her tea. Her thoughts wandered off to her new guests. _Just how did they get that crystal? Regina came here to Ruby Kingdom all those years ago. While yes Ruby and Sapphire kingdoms are neighboring kingdoms, to pass through the borders requires an official pass or escort. And thats just to get into the kingdom. And that Emma White girl. Her parents are the textbook definitions of benevolent dictators. They are from the same realm, that much is shown, but just how do they know each other. All I saw in Regina's eyes was her history here. Was it perhaps because she recognized where she was and so the memories came flooding back? Which is why it was so easy for me to tell who she was? In any case, I should probably research her more._

 

“Everything alright, your majesty?” Marshall asked. Jane turned to him, pulled out of her daze. “I thought I was clear on not calling me that.” she said as she got up from her desk, leaving all the unfinished paperwork sprawled every where. “Im going to the library for a bit. Do some research on our new guests.”

 

“To think the day where you voluntarily go the library for research has come. Is something about them unsettling to you?”

 

“Oh ha HA.” Jane mocked. “Not necessarily them, but rather how they became acquainted with one another, and how Regina managed to look well in her primes after three decades.” Jane said as she made her way out of her study. “Don't worry, ill finish the paperwork..soon..”

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

Regina left the small room with the paintings and continued her explorations. _It was probably just her with curly hair. Gods know how many times my mother made me look better than my best for those insufferable paintings._

 

As Regina kept walking, she passed through a hall with a window reaching from the ceiling to the near bottom of the floor. She looked out in awe as she saw a gorgeous open green field extending into a forest. _This is probably the field she was talking about for horse riding_. Regina thought. She walked closer to the window and let out a gasp as she saw her son gracefully riding a horse, with Eithan by his side. She marveled on how quickly her son grew up from her arms and onto a horse. Its been Regina's dream to teach her son how to ride a horse but it looks like there was no need for it, seeing how much of a natural he is. She shouldn't be surprised, given his family lineage but she couldn't the overwhelming feeling of pride that swelled up in her. As she continues to watch him gallop his way around the fields, she then sees him and Eithan make a turn for the forest. Worry quickly filled her mind because of the events that happened the day prior.

 

She quickly began to make her way back to her room to get Emma and go after them. She internally cursed when she tried using magic to get there faster and failed. Regina nearly ran across the palace, passing several servants giving her curious looks. She finally reached Emma's room, opened the door and slammed it shut, hoping it would wake up the sleeping blonde.

 

And it did.

 

Emma awoke with a startle as the door slammed and she flailed on the bed, nearly falling off of it. When she regained her composure, she propped herself on her elbows and looked over around the room to find the culprit. However all she found was Regina trying to catch her breath.

 

“Regina what ha- are you ok??” Emma said sitting up on the bed now. “What happened?”

 

“I saw Henry and that boy Eithan head off into the forest on horses” Regina said once she regained her breath. “We need to go after them”

 

“Well if Henry is with Eithan then i'm sure everything will be fine.” Emma said. Regina widened her eyes at the blonde. _How can she jus say that?_

 

“How can you even say that?! Do you not remember what jumped at us yesterday?” Regina said. “What if it jumps at them too?”

 

“Regina calm down. Eithan saved Henry from those huge monkeys once before i'm sure he can do it again if he has to.” Emma said hoping it will relax Regina, even just a little bit.

 

Emma was stupid to hope.

 

“Why would he even _need_ to be saved? Why is that boy putting my son in danger like that?” Regina exclaimed.

 

“Our son” Emma said back

 

“Miss Swan” Regina said with a glare. Emma got up and walked over to Regina and put her hands on the brunettes shoulders.

 

“Regina even if we were to go after them now, how do you expect us to catch up with them if they're on horses and we are without magic? Im sure Eithan wouldn't purposefully put Henry in danger like that. Those giant monkeys are his enemies too so that would mean he would also be in danger. They're boys Regina, let them have their fun for now.” Emma explained. Regina's gaze softened but the worry was still there.

 

“I don't want him to get hurt”

 

“Neither do I but really there isn't much we can do at this point. Yea we're in an unknown land but we were lucky enough to have the royal family let us stay here where its safe so we don't have to constantly worry about safety. So just take a deep breath and let Henry have his fun. You said he was riding a horse right? Was he good?” Emma asked with a small smile as she went back to her bed to sit down. Regina sat on her bed and recalled how gracefully Henry was riding.

 

“He was a natural” Regina said with a smile that Emma happily returned.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

“Woooaahhh what is this place?” Henry asked with his mouth wide open and eyes roaming every where.

 

“This is my happy place outside the palace” Eithan said.

 

Henry looked all over, allowing his eyes to take in every detail of the wondrous place. Deep into the forest, there was a river that flowed through the heart of the forest. The water was clear as glass. If you went east of the river, you would eventually come across a spot right on the mountain that will make your eyes widen. This is the spot where the river begins and is met with a not so large, yet not so small waterfall. The ground surrounding the pool of water created by the waterfall was covered in giant rocks with green moss covering some of them. The tree branches hung low and the leaves were long, each a different shade of green, allowing the perfect amount of sunlight to drift through. The sound of the water falling from the side of the giant mountain gave out a calming effect and the scenery around the sound gave a feeling of serenity. There was one particular boulder that was right under the waterfall, causing the falling water to split its path and spray towards the sides of the boulder while giving off a small mist. The water, being crystal clear, blent in all the colors surrounding it.

 

“This place is amazing Eithan” Henry said still in awe. Eithan got off his horse and sat down on a rock and motioned Henry to do the same.

 

“Yes I know. Its a great place to just sit and think. Or to just relax and forget about all your worries.” Eithan said and Henry hummed in agreement.

 

“Does anyone else know about this place?” Henry asked.

 

“No, not that I know of. If anyone else does then they don't come here when i'm here at least”

 

“Probably see the prince and back away” Henry said with a small laugh.

 

“Oh shut up. Anyone is welcomed here if they find it. No matter who's here before them” Eithan said as he playfully shoved Henry.

 

“Do you not like your royal title? If you don't mind me asking that is. Its just that i've noticed you and your sister tend to avoid being called anything with a royal title” Henry said with curiosity.

 

“Its not that I don't like my royal title. I don't mind it, really. But just because i'm a prince, doesn't mean I enjoy giving orders or stripping people of their rights. Despite what my sister says, I do study, and i've learned that being a dictator will not get you anywhere except overthrown. Who wants that? As for my sister, she just feels like she doesn't deserve the royal title. For as long as I can remember, she was never a “princess”. She was never one to follow the rules. She hated rules and all the ways a princess had to act. But that all changed after my parents and my other older sister passed away. Out of necessity, she had to take up the thrown and continue the ruling in their place” Eithan explained. His voice shuddering in those last two sentences. He didn't like remembering that day. The day when he found out most of his family was killed.

 

“Wait you had another sister?” Henry said right away, more curiosity filling his voice. Eithan looked over at Henry. He saw the purity in his eyes. Unlike his sister, he didn't have the power to look into someones past but he knew a pair of trustworthy eyes when he saw one. He's only 13 but has the soul of an old man.

 

“Yea. Her name was Raina. Raina Ronan. She's seven years older than Jane, so that would make her 29 years old now. Her and Jane look so much like each other despite Jane looking like my mother and Raina looking like my father.” Eithan said with a chuckle.

 

“Wow,” Henry said letting the information sink in. _So both his parents and older sister died at the same time?_ “Im sorry”

 

“For what? You didn't take them away from me, silly” Eithan said with a small smile. “Its in the past now. It happened eight years ago.” Henry looked at him, not sure if Eithan's smile is genuine.

 

“Come on, lets go for a swim! The water is always warm” Eithan said as he began to take off his shirt.

 

“Ok!” Henry said with a smile as he joined Eithan in the water.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

“Oh my” Jane said as she looked over the new information. She stood over several open books that were spewed across a large round wooden table in the back of her personal library. “So Regina Mills, the once Evil Queen casted a massive curse that plunged her entire realm into a world with no happy endings and no progression of time? And whats more is that this world is in the same realm that we get all our technological advances from. What are the odds?” Jane said with a chuckle. “And her and Emma know each other because..” Jane flipped through a few more pages of the book she was holding. “Oh Emma is the savior for this curse. OH THATS RIGHT SHES THE PRODUCT OF TRUE LOVE” Jane said with astonishment. _How did I forget that? Mother and Father made me memorize nearly all the famous tales of true love, even from other realms. I did see in her eyes that she was a princess indeed but I completely forgot that Snow White and Prince Charming were true loves._ “Well this certainly explains how Regina managed to look so young after 30 plus years. Damn, I can't go through all of that just to stay young” Jane muttered. “So the Evil Queen, a princess trained by the darkest of beings, created a curse that only a savior can break? My god that sounds like something you'd see on television” Jane used her magic to clean up the mess she made. One by one, all the books she pulled out from their shelves went back inside as she made her way through the door and sealed it shut. She began to walk back to her study to finish up some paper work before dinner. She knew if she didn't soon, Marshall will scold her and despite him only being a servant, she sees him as a father.

 

_So the dark one, by the name of Rumpelstiltskin, made Regina into what she is today, or rather, what she was all those decades ago. The book said he can be summoned from any realm to perform a favor in exchange for a price. But his methods clearly include dark magic, that much was obvious just from his title. Is that how Regina came in contact with the Sapphire Orb? Did the dark one have any business in the Sapphire Kingdom? And if so, what was it? And speaking of the orb, I should return it to their majesties. I guess ill do it at our next meeting then. No point in seeing them unless needed. But damn, I really wish I can get more information on this. No way in hell will Regina let me look into her past any further. But if it really was like what was recorded, I wouldn't blame her._

 

Jane entered her study once more and saw that the papers that were haphazardly thrown across the desk were now split into two piles of what was done and what needed to be done. The piles were in similar height so she was about halfway there. In front of the finished pile, she found a note with Marshall's handwriting.

 

“ **Im truly surprised you got this much done, your majesty” -Marshall**

 

Jane let out a small laugh, she's used to Marshall's teasing. She never had any anger in her words when she reprimanded him for saying a title with her name. She put the note aside and continued to do her work. As she was working, she quickly wondered what her guests were up to.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

“Regina can we pleeeaaseee do something?” Emma asked for the tenth time as the brunette stood out on the balcony gazing over to the small lake in the middle of the field. Emma got tired of being in her room alone after Regina woke her up so she decided to pay the brunette a visit.

 

“What do you want to do?” Regina asked absent mindlessly.

 

Emma, shocked that she even got a response in the first place, let alone asking what she prefers, since Regina has been quiet the other nine times shes been asking. Emma only asked Regina to do something because she didn't want her to be alone in this place. Not because she didn't trust the woman in charge, but because the brunette has been alone long enough in her opinion. Emma would be lying to herself if she said she didn't feel some sort of attraction towards Regina. She didn't know when it started, but she knew of it when she realized she couldn't bare seeing Regina hurt or upset, and how happy she'd get when Regina smiled or on the rare occasion, laughed. She knows that Regina doesn't feel the same way, and its fine, just as long as she's not hurt or upset.

 

“Now you don't want to go anywhere?” Regina asked as she looked back. Her breath was caught in her throat as she saw Emma look at her with sad eyes. “Emma are you ok?” Regina quickly asked as she got up. That seemed to have pulled Emma out of her haze and schooled her features again.

 

“Yea why?”

 

“You looked upset, like you were about to cry.” Regina said.

 

“My my, not only has her majesty called me by my first name, but she is now worried for my well being? Ok who are you and what have you done with my Regina?” The words slipped out of Emma's mouth before she could successfully shut it. A blush now creeping up on both the blondes and brunettes face, though the latter claiming it was because she got caught worrying about the former. The former however, blushing because of the sudden _“my”_ that came out.

 

“Shut up Miss Swan” Regina said as she walked towards the door. “Are we going somewhere or not?” Regina asked with impatience linked in her voice.

 

“Y-yea just let me get my coat” Emma said as she took her red leather jacket. “Do you want to go to the town?”

 

“Fine but how will we get there?” Regina asked as her and Emma left their room.

 

“Um, do you think we can ask Jane for a way?”

 

“Very well but where is she?”

 

“Thats a good question. Lets ask someone” Emma said. They started to walk down the hall, trying to find a maid or another servant that would help them find her. As they walked, they took in their surroundings once more, white walls with red borders that had intricate designs engraved in it. Regina's heels clicked loudly against the red and white tiled marble floors, sending a slight echo.

 

“How are you still walking in those heels?”

 

“How? Well ill put it simply for you, you put your left foot in front of your right foot, and then your right foot in front of your left foot. Its sort of like what you are doing except with heels.”

 

“And here I thought you were gliding across the floor. When I say 'how', I mean how do your feet not hurt?”

 

“Practice. Miss Swan. Years and years of practice” Regina said with a smirk. “And I have glided before”

 

“What? When?” Emma asked in bewilderment. _Regina can glide?_

 

“When I made my grand entrance at your parents wedding.” Regina said. Emma just rolled her eyes and let out a sigh. They continued to walk and when they made another turn, they saw a maid dusting the portraits up on the wall.

 

“Excuse me but do you where we can find Jane?” Emma asked. The maid turned around to look at them and smiled.

 

“Lets see, its 3:30pm right now so she should be in her study completing her paperwork” the maid told them. “Just go down the hall there, pass through the small yard and you'll see a double door leading to the next wing of the building. Then take the stairs up to the third floor and its the last door on the right.”

 

“Theres another wing to this palace?” Regina asked. She saw no sign of there being another wing, let alone a yard to pass through when she took her tour.

 

“Yes of course. This is the South wing of the palace, and Jane's study is in the North wing.” the maid said wondering what made her ask such a question. “If she is working on the paperwork when you get there, Im not too sure if she will let you into the study because chances are she wont hear you. She likes listening to the loudest music when working.”

 

“Well we will make ourselves heard, thank you.” Regina said. “Lets go Miss Swan.” Emma thanked the maid once more and started to follow Regina. They went down the hall and just as the maid said, they saw a small, yet beautiful yard with double doors opposite of them.

 

The yard was a quaint one, and no bigger than a hundred feet in perimeter. It was in the shape of a square, with two benches on each side and bird baths in between the benches. Beds of various flowers went along the perimeter and the grass was just as green as it was every where else in this kingdom. The benches were made out of cherry wood with black handles and borders, with an eighteenth century design.

 

“This truly is a beautiful palace” Regina said while looking at her surroundings.

 

“Yea it really is” Emma said as they made their way through the yard and towards the double doors. Emma opened the doors, allowing Regina to enter.

 

The North wings interior looks the same as the Souths wing, just with different portraits on the walls.

 

The two women continued to make their way towards the study. They went up the red and white curved staircase to the third floor and saw that there was only one door, and that was the one all the way to the right.

 

“That must be it” Emma said as she pointed towards the two large wooden doors.

 

“And here I thought she was behind a wall” Regina replied, with no doubt, sarcasm in every word.

 

“After showing us that stone room I wouldn't be surprised if she was” Emma said ignoring Regina's sarcasm as she made her way towards the door. Regina smirked and made her way towards Emma.

 

The blonde knocked three times on the door and waited for an answer.

 

None came so she knocked again.

 

Once again there was no answer. Regina grew a bit annoyed and remembered that the maid said she probably wouldn't hear them. So she tried out the door and saw that it was unlocked. She looked over at Emma who just shrugged. They made their way into the study and saw that it was dimly lit. The only source of light was the small desk lamp that illuminated the paperwork Jane was working on and a large window behind Jane that allowed sunlight in, on the opposite side of the door. Regina took a quick look around as she walked in and saw bookshelves filled with books that made up all the walls and a small sofa on the left side. The desk that Jane was working on was no less than ten feet long and five feet wide, no doubt made from the same wood as everything else in the palace.

 

Jane noticed the shift in air and looked up. She saw her two guests standing awkwardly by the door. She took off her headphones and smiled.

“Oh you found me. What may I help you with?” Jane said as she laid back in her seat. She's halfway done with her paperwork and was quite happy with her progress.

“We were hoping you can direct us to the main city”

“You guys wanna go to Main Street? Why?”

“We're bored” Emma said. Jane let out a laugh when she heard that.

“Well apologies for my palace being boring. You are aware there are many game rooms here right?”

Emma and Regina shook their heads. They suddenly remembered what Henry said he did with Eithan. Realization hit them and Jane saw the change in their faces, letting out another laugh. “Its ok don't worry about it. Ill do you one better. Instead of directing you to Main Street, ill take you there myself.” Jane said as she gathered her finished papers into a neat piles. _I'll finish the rest after dinner._

“Are you sure? You look busy” Emma said. She didn't want to disrupt the girl from her work.

“I've been doing this since after we finished lunch. I can take a little break to take my lovely guests to one of our lovely attractions.”

“Lunch was two hours ago. You're already tired?” Regina asked

“Yes”

“She's a teen, Regina. Im sure you didn't enjoy paperwork when you were a teen.” Emma said with a chuckle.

“Woah wait. What?” Jane said with wide eyes. “I'm not a teenager. I'm twenty years old. Im turing twenty one in a few weeks” Regina's and Emma's eyes grew wide. They could've sworn that Jane was a teenager. She didn't look a day older than seventeen.

“You look so young though!” Emma exclaimed.

“Twenty years isn't that old!” Jane said back.

“But its true dear, you look like you're well in your teen years.”

“Yea you look younger than you apparently are.” Emma said.

“Regina you're nearing your sixties yet you don't look a day older than thirty” Jane said with a nonchalant tone.

Regina blushed and looked down and Emma's eyes widened. She knew that the brunette was technically much older than her, but she didn't actually realize she was _that_ much older than her. She'd forget that the curse was 28 years old before she broke it. She looked over at the blushing Regina and let out a small laugh. “Its ok Regina. For what its worth, you're pretty hot for someone nearing their sixties” Emma said while trying to hold a straight face.

“Oh my god” Regina muttered under her breath as she blushed even harder. After taking a deep breath she looked up at the other two women. “Are we going or not?”

The two younger women let out a laugh before Jane nodded her head yes. “Ok ill take you guys to Main Street. Grab my hand”

Emma and Regina grabbed her hand and the next thing they knew, they disappeared in a puff of red smoke and appeared in the heart of Main Street. Regina and Emma looked around the bustling street and Emma saw that it was very similar to New York City but it had more of a homey feel. While the urban city had more of a business feel to it, Main Street had a hospitable feel to it. It looked like everyone knew each other and were very friendly. Jane quickly lead them into a little alley.

“Regina look at me” Jane said seriously. Regina turned around to face the younger brunette, confused at the tone. Jane took her left hand and placed her thumb on the middle of Reginas forehead and her middle finger on Regina's right temple. Regina visible flinched at the contact and Emma was about to say something when Jane spoke up. “Don't be afraid. Im going to put a light spell on you”

“What, why?” Emma and Regina asked at the same time.

“Regina don't forget that what you did was only thirty years ago. There are still survivors from there walking about. If they see you, they will no doubt feel the fear that they once did at that time and who knows what they will say. It will cause unnecessary attention.” Jane said. Emma and Regina visibly tensed up. “But,” Jane continued. “The spell i'm going to put on you now, will cause those people to evade those memories whenever they look at you. Should a survivor from that day see you, they wont recognize as the Evil Queen. Understand?” At this, both Regina and Emma relaxed.

“Wait will I be able to recognize her?” Emma asked.

“You already know her as Regina. You didn't know her as the Evil Queen. This spell is going to only affect those who see her only as the Evil Queen.” Jane said.

“Ok” Emma said.

“Ready Regina?” Jane asked. Regina nodded yes. Jane closed her eyes and muttered a spell in another language and as she did, a red mist clouded over Regina. When Jane was done, she took her hand off Regina's face. “There, this will do.”

Regina didn't look nor did she feel any different. She looked over to Emma who just gave her a thumbs up. Emma had no memory of Regina being called the Evil Queen. “How long will this last?” Emma asked.

“Until I undo it.” Jane said simply. “Well now you're off to do whatever you want. Dinner is in a few hours so ill come pick you guys up when its ready.”

“How will you find us?” Regina asked.

“Don't worry about that. I'll find you. Here you can use my card for anything you'd like. Our currency is different from yours.” Jane said as she handed the card to Emma. “Enjoy, ladies”. And with that, Jane disappeared into a puff of red mist. Emma and Regina turned to look at each other.

“Ready to explore a bit?” Emma asked with a sheepish smile.

“I don't see why not” Regina said as she returned the smile.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys are enjoying the story :)
> 
> ~J


	7. Chapter 7

“Come on Henry you're slowing me down!” Either yelled as he galloped across the forest. He looked back and saw the younger boy racing towards him.

 

“I'm like five feet behind you! Maybe if you moved a bit i'd have a chance to go around you!” Henry said back.

 

“All I'm hearing are excuses right now.” Either said as he turned his head back. He saw that they were approaching the kingdom border so he began to slow down a bit.

 

“What happened? Getting tired?” Henry asked smugly as he pulled up next to him.

 

“Yea you wish. We're not far from the border. We should start heading back. By the time we get back and get ourselves cleaned up it will be time for dinner. We have time for the scenic route if you want.”

 

“Yea definitely!” Henry exclaimed. He's finding this new kingdom really fascinating. He also enjoys spending time with the young prince. Henry never met anyone of royalty that was around his age so he's taking full advantage of the opportunity. As he follows Eithan, he couldn't help but wonder if this would've been his life if they made it back to the Enchanted Forest. Not that he's unhappy with his current life, but the thought of a different lifestyle definitely set a curious flame in him.

 

“So what do you think so far?” Eithan asked, pulling Henry out of his daze. Henry looked around at the sights before him. They were on a higher route with less trees which allowed them to gaze upon their surroundings from a better angle. Henry saw a river to his left and thin white trees to his right. The soil he saw looked really soft and molded to the horses hooves.

 

“It's beautiful.” More importantly, it was calm. He hasn't experienced a calm like this since before Emma came to Storybrooke. He's been on edge since he discovered the truth about his mom and her people.

 

“Relaxing right?” Eithan asked, as if he read Henry's mind.

 

“Oh yea.” Henry chuckled. They spent the rest of the trek back in silence, admiring the views and atmosphere around them as the sun began to set.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

Emma and Regina spent the next few hours exploring the city and its people. They went into various stores and saw while some apparel is similar, others differed substantially. They saw very few people in business wear and more in soft, baggy robe-like clothes which helped give off a more relaxed vibe.

 

“The people here seem super chill.” Emma said as she looked through the clothing racks in a boutique her and Regina stopped in.

 

“Your extensive vocabulary never ceases to amaze me Miss Swan.” Regina said as she looked around the shop, sipping on what Emma told her was “bubble tea”.

 

“You can't go five minutes without making some sort of quip at me can you?” Emma said without even looking up.

 

“You can't go five minutes without making it easy to make a quip at you can you?” Regina asked with a smirk.

 

Emma looked at her with an unamused face. “Hardy har har that was a good one.” Regina almost laughed at that but managed to hold herself back. If she was being honest with herself, she was having a good time with the blonde here. Though she'll never admit that to her. After Jane dropped them off they began walking around the town and admiring the sights. Regina had never been to New York City but she figured this was as close as she can currently get. Emma made her try this drink called bubble tea and she was pleasantly surprised at how good it was.

 

_“Of course you'd like the tapioca in it...grandma.” Emma said with a snicker that turned into a full blown laugh when Regina's mouth slightly fell in shock._

 

_“Miss Swan so help me god if you ever say such a thing again I will personally drown you in that lake that we landed by.”_

 

_“I'm kidding i'm kidding!” Emma said still laughing. “Like I said, super hot for someone in their sixties.” And with that Emma quickly left the store knowing Regina was probably trying to summon a fireball._

 

She looked at the wall clock and saw it was nearing half past six which means Jane should come and pick them out soon. “If you plan on getting anything Miss Swan then I suggest you hurry up. Something tells me we'll be getting picked up soon.”

 

“I'm just looking around sheesh. Did you get what you wanted?” Emma asked as she walked up to Regina.

 

“I got what I needed hours ago Miss Swan.” Regina said.

 

“Hey you guys ready to go?” Jane asked and smiled as the two women jumped at the sound of her voice.

 

“Where did you come from?” Emma asked with a hand to her chest.

 

“My castle.” Emma rolled her eyes

 

“Oh! Your Majesty! How may I help you?” a man said as he quickly walked out from the back room.

 

“Oh no worries i'm fine. Just picking up these lovely ladies for dinner.” Jane said with a smile. “This is a lovely boutique you have though. I'll be sure to stop by at a later time.”

 

“Please, anytime you want. It's an honor seeing you.” He said as he bowed.

 

“Have a wonderful night.” She said as she quickly grabbed the two women's hands and brought them to the castle.

 

“Wow.” Emma said. As she let go of Janes hand. They were standing in the foyer.

 

“What is it?” Jane asked.

 

“No, nothing. I'm just not used to seeing royalty get treated in such a fashion.” Emma said as she tried to hide her smirk from Regina who just rolled her eyes. Jane let a laugh out at that. “Thank you for your card.” Emma said as she gave Jane back her card.

 

“The people are all very nice if you treat them nicely. Go wash yourselves up. It's nearing time for dinner. The boys are already back and are heading to the dining room.” Jane said as she made her way up the stairs. Emma and Regina followed her and head to their respective rooms.

 

Both women bought themselves some clothes to wear for the next few weeks knowing that they cant stay in the same outfit all month. As Emma head entered her room, she couldn't help but smile at how good of a day her and Regina had. In the beginning they went sight seeing, she pointed out to Regina the similarities of this land and the real city and as she did that she couldn't help but notice the glint of curiosity in her eyes which Emma found a little adorable. Later on they went and got a little snack. Emma was shocked for a second that Regina never had bubble tea before but of course remembered that Storybrooke doesn't modernize in any way shape or form. Emma got a good glare at the joke she cracked about Reginas age but didn't take it personally.

 

Emma sat on her bed and processed the entire day. Or rather, the last two days. She freaked out completely when she saw Henry disappear in a cloud of smoke. She freaked out even more when that beast approached them in the forest. She didn't only freak out, she was scared. She's not used to facing magical creatures yet, let alone blood thirsty ones. She wanted to scream so many times and just let out the anger she had at herself for letting any of this happen. But she didn't because of Regina.

 

_Because of Regina_

 

Emma sighed and laid her back down on her bed, legs still hanging off, hands covering her face. She kept as calm as she did because she knew that Regina was freaking out for both of them. She cant blame her. She couldn't get mad every time Regina snapped at her because she knew that the woman _just_ got her son back. And to suddenly see him, quite literally, disappear again? Emma can't imagine the thoughts that were racing in the other woman's head. So she kept calm. Well, as calm as she could. Her mind has been on a roller coaster from blaming Regina and her past, blaming herself, fearing for Henry, and now she feels like it finally stopped.

 

_Henry is safe_

 

_Regina is changing for the better_

 

_They are safe_

 

A knock on the door took her out of her daze. “Miss Swan it's time to go. They're probably waiting for us by now.” She heard Regina say. Emma took a deep breath and got off the bed and opened the door to see Regina waiting for her in a new outfit; black dress pants, white button down shirt and- oh? Flats?

 

“I see you learned a lesson in the last two days” Emma said with a smirk, pointing towards the shoes.

 

Regina rolled her eyes and began to walk away. Emma shut the door behind her and caught up with her.

 

“Did you have fun today?” Emma asked as they walked down various corridors.

“Today was good. I feel like we definitely have more to see though.” Regina said, looking at the blonde.

 

_Well that wasn't a no_ Emma thought. “Good thing we have a month to do so”

 

“Don't remind me.”

 

“Well finally” Henry said as he saw his moms walk into the dining room. He got up and gave them both a hug which kind of took the two women by surprise.

 

“Hey there kid. How was your day?” Emma asked as they took their seats at the table. The table looking even more marvelous than lunch. There were more salads and breads on the table. Different dips and spreads were set out next to the bread baskets. Emma didn't realize just how hungry she was until she saw it all.

 

“It was awesome! Eithan and I raced our horses through the forest and took the scenic route back. You have a really beautiful kingdom.” He said looking at Jane. She smiled and raised his glass at him.

 

“Thank you Henry I'm happy you're enjoying yourself. Might as well right? Considering the amount of time you'll be spending here.” Jane said with a smile. Henry smiled back and thanked her.

 

“What did you guys do all day?” He asked his moms, stuffing some bread into his mouth.

 

“We went sight seeing and shopping in the city.” Regina said as she carefully put some salad on her plate.

 

“I got your mom to try bubble tea” Emma said.

 

“No way!” Henry said in shock.

 

“What's so surprising about that?” Regina asked dumfounded at his surprised face.

 

“I don't know.. I just never thought you'd want to try such a drink.” Henry said picking at his plate.

 

“Probably because it's considered a 'fun' drink” Emma snickered. Jane nearly choked on her drink laughing at the glare Regina gave Emma.

 

“Excuse you but I can have fun.” Regina defended herself.

 

“Oh is that so Madam Mayor?” Emma countered, locking eyes with the brunette.

 

“Yes I can.” Regina said maintaining the eye contact, not willing to break.

 

“So you're a mayor? What is that?” Eithan asked looking between the two women.

 

“It's an elected official.” Jane explained. “Kind of like a small ruler of the city or town. Except the people choose who rules.”

 

“Oh that's cool. How'd you know that?” Eithan asked his sister. They don't have anything like that in Gem Kingdom. They just have the royal families. Jane raised an eyebrow at him.

 

“Because I studied when I was supposed to, my dear brother.”

 

“Okay i'm just gonna finish my food.” Eithan said looking down. Henry started laughing at him and Eithan threw his napkin at him to which Henry threw back.

 

Jane rolled her eyes at her brother. “Why cant you at least act like a prince? For just five minutes?”

 

“Yes Henry don't forget you're also a prince and you're in someone else's castle. Act accordingly” Regina reprimanded. Both boys apologized and after a minute Henry said “He started it.”

 

“Wooww throw me under the chariot why don't you.” Eithan said as he handed his plate to a servant who brought him and the rest of the guests the main course meals. It was some sort of meat with potatoes and steamed vegetables.

 

“Thats not even how you say it” Henry said.

 

“What kind of meat is this?” Emma asked wondering what kind of food this realm has.

 

Jane, seeing the intent behind the question winked at her. “Eat it and i'll tell you.”

 

“It tastes like beef” Henry said.

 

“It is beef, dont worry. Im not serving you anything out of the ordinary for you guys.” Jane said as she began eating too.

 

The rest of the dinner went on with Regina and Emma talking about their day and how Henry wanted a horse when they got back to Storybrooke which Regina agreed to a little too quickly. There were jokes, smiles and laughter all around the table and it made Emma feel at ease. She sat back and gave a small smile to how things finally calmed down.

 

“We're done. Can we go?” Henry and Eithan asked at the same time, Henry looking at his moms and Eithan looking at his sisters.

 

“I don't have a problem with it” Emma said and Regina agreed. Eithan continued to look at his sister who hasn't said anything yet. “Jane?”

 

“I'll tell you what. Lets make a deal shall we?” She said as she leaned towards him. The servants began to clean their dinner plates and put out various cookies and tea.

 

“What deal?” Eithan asked nervously.

 

“I know you've been lacking in your studies, for whatever reason, and before you interrupt me,” Jane said raising her hand at Eithans attempt to say something. “I realize you need some motivation. In two weeks there will be an 'emergency meeting' summoned by King Wallas. If you complete your studies and show me all your work i'll take you with me and you can attend the meeting.” Jane finished.

 

Eithan stayed quiet for a minute, processing everything. “I'll get to attend a meeting?” he asked

 

“If you prove to me you can act like a real prince then yes you can come with me. These meetings are not a joke. You're representing your kingdom, your family and your name. I need to know that you can do that and if you can complete something menial such as completing your studies _on time,_ i'll know that I can trust you to listen in. Deal?” Jane said sticking out her hand towards her brother. Eithan took it without hesitation.

 

“Deal!” He said excitedly.

 

“Good. Use your time wisely. You have two weeks to show me all your completed assignments. Why dont you show Henry what you have to do.” Jane suggested, taking a sip of her tea.

 

“Henry lets go!” Eithan said as he began running out of the room, Henry following him.

 

“No running!” Jane and Regina called out.

 

“Honestly that boy really gets me wound up.” Jane said, more to herself.

 

“You're strict with him on his studies huh?” Emma asked, taking a cookie from the table.

 

“It's literally for his benefit. I dont need him slacking like I did and then struggling. He's a smart kid but lately he's been slacking off and I cant understand why.”

 

“Did you ask him whats been bothering him?” Emma asked.

 

“No not really. Recently i've realized that Eithan and I don't have such a close relationship, much to my regret.”

 

“Why's that?”

 

“I was put to the throne when I was around his age and since then its just been work, training, work, studies.” Jane said. “I just didn't have the time. Now that i've gotten the hang of everything i've had more time but I fear its too late. One of the burdens of ruling a land. You don't have time for any sort of genuine relationship.” Jane looked down at her hands and then up at the women. She saw Emma trying to understand, and Regina completely understanding. “So ladies, any plans for tonight or are you heading to bed? Its, what is it?” She asked looking at her watch. “9:45pm. The yards are open if you want to take a nice stroll. The weather is gorgeous.

 

“Im gonna head to sleep. It's been a long day. What are you going to do?” Emma asked looking at Regina. The woman was contemplating on what to do. On one hand she was tired from walking all day. God knows the blonde can be exhausting, even in a good way. But on the other hand she wanted to know more about their host.

 

“I would actually like to talk to you some more. If thats alright.” She said to Jane, who raised her eyebrows, along with Emma, in surprise.

 

“That's fine with me. I'd like to get to know you some more too” Jane said getting up. “I'll be taking a stroll though so join me.” Jane got up from the table and stretched.

 

At that Emma got a little apprehensive. Sure she trusts Jane more than when they first met but did she trust her enough to leave her alone with Regina outside at night? _She made a promise, Emma_ she told herself.

 

“That's fine” Regina said also getting up. Emma took a breath and got up as well.

 

“Okay then I'll see you guys tomorrow. Goodnight.” Emma said as she made her way out of the dining room, wanting to get to sleep faster but can't help worrying just a bit.

 

“Ready to go?” Jane asked Regina. Regina nodded in agreement and they began to head out to the yard.

 

The yard was beautiful Regina noted. Large and beautiful. There were pathways that were lit up by little lights and even some of the trees had some lights in it though she noticed that there was no wiring.

 

“How are these lit?” She asked. Jane looked at what she was pointing to.

 

“Oh, magic. We have an orb that emits my magic throughout the grounds. I can re arrange it any way I want but I think that this way is cute.” Jane explained as they walked down a path.

 

“This is all your magic?” Regina asked in astonishment. There were small lights as far as she could see. _How much magic does she have?_

 

“Well yea. Don't forget that this kingdom has a lot of magic itself. So I get some help.” She said with a chuckle. “But I doubt you came out here with me to ask about my yard. Whats on your mind?” Jane asked. Regina stayed quiet for a moment trying to phrase the words properly in her head.

 

“I remember, when I first came to this realm, it was much like the Enchanted Forest. There was no modernization what so ever. In fact the only thing that really stood out about your kingdom was your army. Which is what I came here to get in the first place. When your grandparents rejected my offer I was indeed furious, enraged. So I did what I do best and cause turmoil. It was rather childish of me looking back so I wanted to apologize.” She looked at Jane. “ But I also want to thank you and this kingdom.”

 

“Thank us?”

 

“Had you given me your army I would've never enacted the dark curse. Which meant I would've never gotten Henry.”

 

“So you want to thank us for indirectly causing you to enact a dark cursed that doomed all your people?” Jane asked.

 

“I do.” Regina said earnestly.

 

“You're so weird” Jane laughed. “Um okay I guess. You're welcome? Also, apology somewhat accepted. You've only been here two days. I can't fully trust you yet but I know you're trying and I respect that.” Jane said smiling at Regina. Regina understood of course. She knows that Jane has no right to trust her at all but she appreciates the effort.

 

“Your son really means that much to you huh?”

“He's everything to me. I'd do anything for him. I'm even putting up with his mother and let me tell you it can be exhausting. It's like two children.”

 

“I think you're just scared Henry will pick her over you, considering how much you value him. Losing that value can really instill something in someone.” Jane said as they continued to walk around the castle grounds.

 

Regina looked up at the sky and the countless stars above them. “I nearly lost him once because of my evil actions. The pain I felt was unbearable but it was because of Emma he was brought back.”

 

“Oh so its Miss Swan when you're with her but 'Emma' when you're not.” Jane said with a smirk.

 

“She's so infuriating I don't know what to call her.”

 

“I've been meaning to ask why you hate her so much. And since you just said that she saved Henry, shouldn't the hatred die down a bit?”

 

“She came in out of nowhere, with Henry saying that she's her biological mother so as a mother I got intimidated. When I learned she was the savior I was intimidated as a queen and feared all my work would be ruined. Which happened actually. My curse was broken and now I can't even go outside without people looking at me and planning my death.” Regina was starting to get visibly irritated but that didn't stop Jane from asking more questions.

 

“But it seems all she does is protect you. In fact, she's very protective over you. If anyone can believe you can change, it's her.” Jane said trying to calm Regina down a bit.

 

“Please, that's all an act. I know that one wrong move and she'll side with her parents and have me strung up.” Regina scoffed.

 

“Yes that's why she forcibly grabbed me by the collar, despite knowing who I am and what she's seen me do, just to defend you even after learning about what you did to this kingdom.”

 

“I still don't understand why she did that” Regina rolled her eyes

 

“Because she knows you can't expect to fight every battle on your own. She of all people knows what change is like. And she cares about you believe it or not. Believe me I looked into her eyes. She just wants you and Henry to be happy.” Jane said giving a small smile to Regina who just looked at her not knowing what to say. “I know I dont get it either.” she said playfully.

 

“I don't need anyone's protection.” Regina said firmly.

 

“Regina how can a woman with a darkened heart expect to change with such high walls?” Jane asked sincerely. “Let your walls down a bit around the people you trust, and don't say you don't trust her or else things would be much different. Let them down a bit and you'll see that change is so much easier.”

 

Regina sighed. “You're awfully smart for a twenty year old.”

 

“I only speak from experience. I had to grow up fast. My childhood was taken from me before I even knew what was going on.” Jane said. Regina understood how she felt. Being a young woman in royalty was never easy.

 

“If you dont mind me asking, what happened?”

 

“My parents passed away when I was young. They were killed actually. A rogue chariot crashed into theirs when they were heading back from a counsel meeting. The horse was enchanted to go crazy and no one knows who did it and considering a good number of people were able to use magic at the time, there wasn't enough time to investigate all of them. And so there was no one else to take the throne so it had to be me. My studies intensified significantly and so did my responsibilities. Thankfully I had Marshall by my side and a few trusted advisors but let me tell you it was a rocky start.” Jane explained looking up at the sky.

 

“I'm sorry to hear that. I was forced into royalty when I was young too. Though I didn't have the supportive people I needed.” Regina said. Jane knew what she was talking about. When she took a glimpse into Regina's past she saw that she had an awful up bringing.

 

“Well it happened already so what can we do?” Jane said with a shrug. She looked at her watch. 10:30pm. “I think we should start heading back. It's half past 10.”

 

“Can you bring me to Eithans room? I want to say goodnight to Henry.” Regina said as they began to head back. It was silently decided that talk about this subject was over. At least for tonight. Regina had wanted to find out more about Jane's family but she decided to leave it for another day.

 

“Of course.”

 

Regina began to walk down the halls towards her room. She saw that Henry and Eithan were already sleeping so she gave him a small kiss on the head and whispered goodnight. She even saw Jane tuck Eithan in more which was quite a heartwarming thing to see considering how strict Jane always is with him.

 

As she got to the corridor where her and Emma's room was she had to stop dead in her tracks. _Is that..crying?_ Regina thought. She quickly got to Emmas door and heard that the blonde was crying. She can't lie about the worry that filled her. She knocked three times on the door “Miss Swan are you okay?” she listened carefully for a response but heard more crying. “Emma?” she turned the knob and saw that the door was open so she went in only to find the woman tossing in her sleep. Shes having a nightmare. She went to the blondes bed and tried shaking her.

 

“Miss Swan get up.” Regina said but Emma was still sleeping. “Emma!” Regina firmly grabbed her shoulders and made Emma lie still. After a few seconds Emma woke up with a start, sitting up.

 

“Regina?” she said quietly, slowly coming to. She took in her surroundings, a dark room receiving natural light from the moon outside through the open balcony blinds. In front of her was Regina looking worried. “Wh-what are you doing here?”

 

“You were crying. Having a nightmare I presume.” Regina said

 

“Oh did I wake you up?” Emma asked looking at the time, 11:30pm. “I'm sorry.”

 

“No dear you didn't. I just got back from my walk with Jane and heard you before I went into my room.” She explained.

 

“Oh” was all Emma could say as she wiped her face. _They were walking that long?_

 

“Are you okay?” Regina asked still worrying about the blonde. She remembers when Henry had nightmares. She noticed they have the same pouty look.

 

“Y-yea i'm fine. It's nothing new.” At that Regina looked a little more sorry but didn't know what else to do. She cant help her like she helped Henry. She's not an eight year old. She nodded at her and proceeded to leave when she felt the other woman grab her wrist. She turned around and saw glossy green eyes that made her heart skip a beat (for whatever reason). “I'm sorry, but can you stay? Please?” Emma asked quietly, not looking up after she apologized.

 

Regina was about to object. She didn't think it was necessary for her to spend the night here. She was about to say no when-

 

_Let your walls down a bit around the people you trust_

 

“Let me go get changed.” She said after what felt like forever. Emma gave a small smile and nodded, not really trusting herself to speak at the moment as she laid back down. Regina left Emmas room and with a deep breath entered her room and changed. _What am I doing?_ She asked herself over and over again. When she got back to Emma's room she saw that she already fell asleep. _I could leave now_ she thought. _I'll leave my door open if anything_

 

_Let them down a bit and you'll see that change is so much easier._

 

Regina sighed and got into the blondes bed, completely not noticing the other empty bed next to Emmas.

 


End file.
